“One day, you will thank yourself for not giving up.” This is the statement of Rangel Marie C. Tolentin, a 4Ps beneficiary who went through battles brought about by poverty.

Like many of us, she, too experienced the hardships of having so little in life. Being one of the poorest families in the small municipality of Manukan in Zamboanga Del Norte, Rangel lived a very modest and scarce life.

As a young girl, Rangel did not understand why she had less while others had more. This brought pain in her heart knowing that with her intelligence, she could have achieved more had she have access to better opportunities. She remembers having to DIY (do it yourself) some stuff to maximize its use. One classic example is binding all unused sheets of her used notebooks just so she can have one new notebook for the next academic year. She would find a yarn and sew the clean pages together to produce another piece of notebook. This financial difficulty somehow taught her to become wise and resourceful. Her ingenuity meant one less expenditure for her educational needs and she knows that she had learned something out of her hardships.

“Study your pain. It is trying to teach you something so that we find our purpose in life,” Rangel said.

All the things she did not have fuelled her desire to achieve her dreams and aspirations. Her addition as a member of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) brought so many opportunities to her and to her family. At that time, Tolentin Family became part of the 4Ps through the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer (MCCT), a sub-component of 4Ps program which uses a modified approach in implementing the conditional cash transfer program for poor families including Homeless, Indigenous Peoples, and Families in Need of Special Protection (FNSP).

Because of her membership to the 4Ps, Rangel was then granted a scholarship through the Expanded Student Grant-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA), an educational program that used to be implemented by the DSWD.

Today, Rangel Marie C. Tolentin is a proud bachelor’s degree holder in Civil Engineering. She graduated from the Jose Rizal Memorial State University in Dipolog, Zamboanga Del Norte last July 2022.

Currently, she is employed at the Local Government Unit of the municipality of Manukan, Zamboanga Del Norte.

She thanks herself that she did not give up on her dreams despite the difficulties she faced back in the day. At present, Rangel enjoys the fruits of her perseverance, and she is certain that the future holds a better life for her and her family. ###