Tumacas –in Filipino, means ‘to escape’. There were so many struggles that the Tumacas family ran away from. The biggest and hardest of all, POVERTY.

Rega Ayn Gay Tumacas had an early realization about life. She was just a kid then when she realized that life was tough and that she needed to strive hard to escape what little convenience life has given her. As a child, she would see her parents endure multiple jobs, especially her father.

He juggled between jobs in order to sustain his growing family in Zamboanga City. He worked as a pump boy at a gasoline station then moved to being a construction worker. With his rather lean body, he endured the hard labor just so he can bring home decent food. His only relief from muscle and body pains are the care from his loving wife and the smiles and laughter of Rega Ayn and her two brothers.

After a long, tiring day, Rega Ayn would give her father the sweetest smile to assuage his tiredness. But behind the forced stretch of her lips is a heart that pity a hard-working father.

One day, Rega Ayn paid her father a visit at work. She thought that she would witness a strong, vibrant man who can lift heavy concretes with a finger. Little did she know, she was in for an unfortunate surprise.

“I saw him lying down to the side, and my heart ached because I felt sorry for his situation.”

A tired, almost drained man was lying on the floor, taking a break from an exhausting means of living. Such is a heartbreaking scene that presented before her young eyes.

The struggle was real, both physical and emotional.

Apart from being a pump boy and a labourer, he also worked as a pedicab driver, a job that earned him a few coins to support the needs of Rega Ayn and her brother in grade school. But in an unfortunate twist of fate, the very means that he turned to for support turned on him and betrayed his already exhausted body.

He was bullied by his fellow pedicab drivers and was beaten up. The reason was that when passengers bargained with him and said that they could only pay five pesos, he accepted it without any complaint or refusal, because he said it was his way of helping others.

This was not taken lightly by other drivers in the area as this meant that passengers would prefer to ride with him and less passengers for them. The incident was reported to the authorities, but no charges were filed because he took pity on the wife of the suspect who was pregnant then.

“Because of this [experience], I realized how truly kind my father is, so I told myself that I would work hard in my studies in order to help my family,” Rega Ayn said.

After the incident, an acquaintance gave him a job as a laborer, and later he became a checker at a warehouse of Liwayway Marketing, where he remains employed up to the present.

Although they worked hard, income was still insufficient to meet their basic needs. We struggled with poverty, often worried about health-related expenses. These experiences shaped her early life and challenged the Tumacas family’s strength every day.

And as they say, when you are kind, life shower you with blessings.

Tumacas family was registered as beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). As beneficiaries, they received cash aid from the government that supported the needs of their children in health and education.

“We were able to attend school without [absences],” Rega Ayn shared her observation in their school performance and participation as a result of receiving grants from the 4Ps program.

Rega Ayn admits that being beneficiaries of the program helped her family in more ways than one. Other than the grants received for sustaining good health and academic performance, her parents were able to attend seminars through the monthly Family Development Sessions (FDS) which improved their learning on proper nutrition, hygiene, responsible parenting, financial management, among others.

Through determination and hard work, Rega Ayn was able to finish her education and earn a degree that opened the door to pursuing her career goals. After finishing college, she landed a job as a sales lady, then became an enumerator with the DSWD. Since the job was project-based, her stint with the DSWD paused and she worked as a Pharmacy Assistant in a local drugstore.

Another opportunity with the DSWD came and she was hired as a Social Welfare Assistant (SWA) under the very program that helped her and her brother reach their dream of finishing their studies.

“Today, as a Social Welfare Assistant under the 4Ps program, I have the privilege of helping families who are in the same situation my family once faced. It feels like coming full circle, from receiving help to becoming someone who extends that help to others,” Rega Ayn reflected in her journey from escaping her personal struggles to being a public servant now.

In a testimony, Rega Ayn narrates how she remembers attending the FDS once on behalf of her mother.

“I never would have thought that one day I will be part of the Program assisting the Municipal Links in their [FDS] sessions,” she added.

Rega Ayn is now part of the working public servants who are fondly called the ‘Angels in Red Vests’. She is assigned in the municipality of Imelda in Zamboanga Sibugay Province. Her brother, on the other hand, is now a teacher at a private school facility.

Her story reflects how life is a continuous journey of blessings. The goodness that you receive today will most likely be paid forward to others tomorrow.

Tumacas family, as their surname goes, escaped and has broken the chain of poverty in the family. Their generation now has a fighting chance to win against poverty especially that the impact of the program is felt in their employment success.

If they escaped the vicious cycle of poverty, so can the thousands of families in the program today.