Category: Feature Stories

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”