SAN JOSE, Antique – Myra E. Torquato is the eldest among three siblings. The challenge to take her family out of poverty and to help her parents send her siblings to school was laid on her shoulders.
Myra’s father was a pedicab driver in Barangay 4, Hamtic, Antique while her mother was a housemaid. With insufficient income, life was not easy for them. They could hardly send all their three children to school.
Despite the financial difficulty, Myra decided to pursue her college education.
Luckily, she found support from the DOLE- Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES). She was twice a beneficiary of the program.
Her family’s living condition was her driving force to do her best in school and finish her studies.
“My parents were not able to set foot in college because of poverty, so I said to myself, I will be the one to achieve their dream of earning a college degree. I want to give them a comfortable life, free from the worries of financial deficiency. Time and again we usually hear from them, “Ano na naman ang uulamin?” or “Saan naman kukuha ng pambili ng bigas?”
“Thanks to SPES. I was able to make a down payment for my enrollment with my salary,” said Myra.
In 2018, her parents were the proudest when she graduated from college and earned a Bachelor of Secondary Education major in English degree from the University of Antique.
“I cried with joy that day when my father overheard another parent saying, ‘Mayad man ra si Melchor, maski amo lang ra ubra na nakapatapos man kang ana bata sa kolehiyo (Look at Melchor, even if he is only a pedicab driver, he was able to send his daughter to college to finish a course),’” said Myra.
Her father was the proudest parent that day. It was like that very day he also received his own college diploma, she said.
“That day I made a promise to myself that I will make more parents proud like my father by helping and inspiring my students to pursue their education despite insufficiency in life until they walk on stage wearing their togas and proudly receiving their hard-earned degrees,” said Myra.
After graduation, Myra started looking for a job and landed as a daycare worker in their barangay for 10 months while reviewing for the board exam which she passed.
She ventured in Metro Manila in 2019 to look for better job opportunities and ended up working at a call center for three months until she decided to come home just before the onset of the pandemic.
Once again, DOLE through its emergency employment program-TUPAD assisted Myra and her family along with thousands of informal and displaced workers affected by the pandemic.
The opportunity to work as TUPAD worker paved the way for her to be accepted as one of the interns under the Government Internship Program (GIP) for five months at the DOLE Region 6 – Antique Field Office.
Her GIP engagement accorded her opportunities to learn a lot of skills, work values and ethics. After her GIP engagement and having proven her potential and dedication, Myra was hired as TUPAD Coordinator which further honed her professional skills until the opportunity came for her to practice her teaching profession.
Now a full-fledged teacher at Diclum National High School in the Municipality of Tobias Fornier, Antique, Myra is fulfilling her promise to help and inspire her students finish their education regardless of their circumstances in life.
Looking back, Myra expressed gratitude that DOLE played a big role in her development as a person and as a professional.
“Gamit na gamit ko na ata ang mga programa ng DOLE. I thought I’ll never have the chance to experience other work aside from teaching but DOLE opened a lot of opportunities for me and I was glad leaving the Department full of skills and wonderful experiences,” she said.
Myra is now happily supporting the education of her siblings and making her parents’ life different from what it used to be. She has nothing but overflowing gratitude and appreciation to DOLE for opening doors of opportunities for her growth as a person and as a professional. (DOLE-6/PN)
