Category: Feature Stories

  IT ALL starts with a piece of land, a passion for farming, and a dream of living a comfortable life.  But for most small Filipino farmers, the land and the passion have always been there as staples but the comfortable life that they long for remains a dream. But in the case of Tatay Samuel Ejan, a 56-year-old palay farmer from Barangay Taposo in Candelaria, Zambales, he has learned to explore the available opportunities that life has to offer … Continue reading “REAPING A GOOD HARVEST WITH SOIL ANALYSIS”

I grew up with the idea that fashion is a highly competitive and glamorous world, with waif-like, picture perfect models and members of the elite class for its citizens.  Maybe this is partly true, but what I saw from the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Sikat Pinoy National Fashion Fair at the Megatrade Hall in SM Megamall showed me a different side of fashion. For TSPI’s second Lakbay Aral, the Planning and Business Development Team invited clients whose businesses … Continue reading “WATER LILY BAG MAKER AT THE SIKAT PINOY NATIONAL FASHION FAIR”

Before engaging in slipper manufacturing, Nanay Jocelyn and her husband worked in a footwear factory. Determined to earn more for their family, the couple started their slipper manufacturing business in 2005. According to Nanay Jocelyn, she realized that it was a good business choice as the industry was growing in their locality. At the start of the enterprise, Nanay Jocelyn had a weekly sales of Php24,000 with a P2,000 net income. They didn’t have workers then. But as the business grew, the demand for quality … Continue reading “STEP-IN TO SUCCESS”

When Nanay Corazon first observed a TSPI center meeting in 2008, she thought it was a prayer meeting. She asked one of the members, “What are you talking about under the tree?” She was curious to know why the group was praying and were very happy. At that time, Nanay Corazon was working as a sewer and did not want a loan. Her friends were asking her to join the group however she was fearful of the responsibility of borrowing. … Continue reading “SEWING IN FAITH”

In one fell swoop, Ma. Isabel Paloma, mother of three, saw her fate change.  Her husband was barangay councilor trying to break a fight when he got shot. Isabel found him lying unconscious on the ground and rushed him to a nearby hospital. “Iyak ako nang iyak. Pumunta ako sa ospital ng walang kapera-pera. Dalawang linggo kami dun (I was crying hard. I brought him to the hospital, without any money. We spent two weeks there),” she says. The burden … Continue reading “DODGING LIFE’S CURVE BALLS”

Vegetable farmer Elma Gabriel is proud of her big, calloused hands. The multiple and crisscrossing lines not only show proof of hard work, but also speak of her long, arduous journey towards becoming a successful micro-entrepreneur.      Everyday, the mother of nine wakes up at 3 a.m. to cook food for 55 people who work in her 10-hectare farm in Bayambang, Pangasinan. Before the sun is up, she’s already hard at work on the field. She goes home to cook lunch … Continue reading “REAPING WHAT SHE SOWS”