Faces of Migration and Return: Story 2 - Erlinda F.Chi

Story 2: Erlinda F. Chi

The past few months have brought a series of calamities to the Philippines. Before 2019 was over, four major earthquakes rocked Mindanao and Typhoon Ursula battered the Visayas. Hopes that 2020 would start on a more positive note have been dashed by the Taal Volcano eruption and the outbreak of COVID-19. The latter has brought much of the world to a stand-still, endangering lives and livelihoods.

As of this writing, we have already heard stories of migrant workers in Hong Kong being let go as expat employers return to their home countries. Travel disruptions also inflict financial hard-ship on migrants workers that are unable to return to their job sites and have to remain in the Philippines indefinitely.

Return and reintegration are considered as the last stages of migration cycle, but how prepared are Filipino migrant workers for this? In times of grim headlines, we will focus on sharing the success stories our Ateneo Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship (ALSE) graduates who have returned home for good, started their business and are still running them today.

Erlinda F. Chi, ALSE 12

Flowerqueen Blooms

Married female migrant workers seek employment abroad to support their nuclear family while young single women, depending on her role in the family, support their parents and siblings. More often than not, extended families also benefit from migrants’ remittances. Some leave because they seek self-fulfillment, adventure, and want to discover the world outside their present environment. Others work abroad because they want to escape from domestic violence.

Erlinda F. Chi belongs to those women who sought new adventures. It was not poverty that primarily drove her to go abroad. She had a good education. She finished her Bachelor of Science in Secretarial Administration at Saint Mary's University and some MBA units at St. Paul University in Tuguegarao, Cagayan. After graduation, she found a teaching job at the University of St. Louis in the same city.

A new adventure

After 10 years of teaching, Erlin was raring to explore something new and discover what life could offer her outside the Philippines. The only way for her to do this was to become an overseas Filipino worker. At the age of 34, she left her home in Saguday, a fifth-class municipality of Quirino Province in August 1991 bound for Hong Kong.

At one point in time, there were six people in Erlin’s family who worked abroad: five in Hong Kong and one in Canada. Today, all four who worked in Hong Kong, including Erlin, have already come home. This is not surprising since Cagayan Valley, where Quirino Province, is  one of the top OFW-sending regions in the country. In Hong Kong, one will find many OFWs mostly coming from the same region or hometowns, especially from northern Philippines.

Switching jobs from a schoolteacher to a foreign household worker was not an easy decision for Erlin. Her first two years in Hong Kong were miserable and depressing. She was crying every day and experienced difficulties in adjusting to her new situation. There were times that she was inconsolable and refused to go back to her employer after her day off. She thought about what kind of life she landed. She had two maids at home, but in Hong Kong she was the maid.

All things considered, life got better for Erlin after two years working in Hong Kong and she felt finally adjusted to her new situation. Fortunately, her employers were generous, kind, respectful, and understanding. But she still felt it was not an easy job to work as a domestic helper. Little by little she overcame loneliness, met new friends and decided to stay in Hong Kong until 1994. Many domestic helpers developed special attachment to their employer. Loyalty and the perception that their employers need them specially those who treat them well motivate them to stay.

Erlin’s husband died in 2004 while she was working in Hong Kong leaving her with their lone daughter. Now a widow, Erlin decided to move on with her life in Hong Kong, serving the same employer who had gotten sick. This became another reason for extending her stay. According to the contract agreement in Hong Kong for domestic helpers, Erlin had to go home every two years to renew her contract, which she did a couple of times for a total of 21 years. Based on a study undertaken in 2012 on the Behaviors and Practices of Filipino Domestic Workers in Hong Kong (Rispens-Noel), the average length of stay for migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong is seven years and three months.

Fossilized flowers

During the period 1994-1997, Erlin decided to stay longer in the Philippines. It was during this extended stay in Saguday that she noticed her mother was laboriously drying and dyeing leaves, grasses, and twigs gathered from the rice fields and hills and made them into flowers. She learned that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) conducted a training in fossilized flower making in 1994, which her mother attended. Her mother immediately practiced what she learned and was eventually recognized as one of the pioneer fossilized flower makers in Quirino.

Seeing the business potential of fossilized flower making, Erlin registered Patrocinio's Arts Gifts and Decors in 1997. The business was named after her late eldest brother, with Erlin as the registered owner, and run and managed by her sister, Agnes.

In the same year after she officially registered her business, she decided to go back to Hong Kong. By this time, she was already feeling adjusted to her new life as a domestic helper.  She got involved in various activities of the Filipino community in Hong Kong. She spent most of her free days attending leaders’ forums conducted by the Philippine Consulate. She also organized the Hong Kong International Association of Computer Enthusiasts and taught computer classes to Filipino domestic helpers at Far East Computer Center, C and D Computer Center, and Welkins Computer Center on a voluntary basis. During that period, she tried to monitor the progress of her business, but she could only do very little. She was highly dependent on the information she received from home.

Then in 2012, Erlin attended the first ever Ateneo Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship (LSE) course conducted in Hong Kong. While attending the course, Erlin had ample time to rethink her business back home and realized some weaknesses. She decided to submit Flowerqueen Enterprises as her business plan. She proposed new directions for her business and for the first time, she finally felt she had a full grasp of how to run it and what it should be. The lessons and tools she learned from LSE made her more systematic, analytical and more self-confident. The first thing she did after LSE was to change the name of her business to Flowerqueen Enterprises and designate her daughter Maria Lynx Brenda Chi as owner. This was the start of Erlin’s life as a social entrepreneur, juggling between her work and managing her business from a distance. Flowerqueen Enterprises is one of the business plans presented in LSE 2012 that was actually implemented.

She also learned how to manage her personal finance. She stopped sending money to her mother, nieces, nephews, and siblings, unless urgent and necessary. Except for her mother, she encouraged her relatives to make flowers and promised to buy them. In this way, they earn something through their own efforts instead of just waiting for the money she sent. She finally had a chance to start saving money for her business.

Flowerqueen Enerprises

Flowerqueen Enterprises is a handicraft business venture that manufactures fossilized flowers, decorative products, and artworks. They use indigenous materials like weeds, leaves, twigs, seeds, grasses, driftwood and other useful waste materials. After a laborious processes of drying, bleaching and dyeing, flower assemblers create colorful flowers and bouquets. The flowers are used during weddings, graduation, debut, anniversaries, graduation, Teachers’ Day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas, and other occasions.

From the first training conducted in 1994, the fossilized flower making in Quirino developed into a thriving business destined for local and international markets. The business created employment for unemployed couples, low-income individuals, out of school youths, and those who have physical barriers to employment, such as inmates. The Department of Social Work and Development of Quirino also contracted Flowerqueen in 2016 to train women under the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program locally known as Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program or 4Ps — a government program that provides conditional cash grants to the poorest of the poor in the Philippines. Around 42 participants attended the training.

At present, Flowerqueen has two full-time and three part-time workers who can produce 1,000 – 2,000 flowers a day. The production increases during peak season. They buy materials locally such as twigs, leaves and grasses that are abundant in the area, which also provide extra income to elderly people and small farmers. Housewives also supply finished products to Flowerqueen an earn extra income for their family’s basic needs. Aside from the local market, Erlin also sells fossilized flowers in Manila, La Union, Nueva Ecija, Baguio, Bulacan, Davao, South Cotabato, and Hong Kong.

Continuous training

To stay in the business, Flowerqueen conducts regular training for processors of raw materials and assemblers of flowers. It strives to ensure unique and high-quality output. It also offer specialized floral arrangements and church decorations, including local door-to- door deliveries. When online selling was not yet quite popular, the business joined trade fairs in Megamall, World Trade Center in Manila, and Golden Shell Pavilion facilitated by DTI. Owing to its significant contribution to the local economy, the province of Quirino declared fossilized flower making as its “One Town, One Product – OTOP” — a government program through the DTI to encourage entrepreneurship aimed at providing livelihood and employment. The OTOP designation boosted the marketing of fossilised flower products. Flowerqueen is one of the major and pioneer suppliers in Quirino.

Among the challenges Erlin while running the business are shortage of skilled assemblers and lack of drying machines to dry raw materials, especially during rainy season. She needed funds so she can buy the necessary equipment and automate some processes like cutting and drying. She plans to tap the Department of Science and Technology to advise her on the appropriate equipment she needs. However, this plan is something for the future when she can already save enough money. Her concern now is to finish the construction of a multipurpose center that will house her business.

LSE helped her understand how to effectively manage the day-to-day business operations.  She gained enough knowledge on how to deal with her staff. LSE also taught her that her business is not only for her own economic gains but also a social enterprise that helps unemployed men and women in her town and creates even a small change in her community.

Coming home

Erin’s daughter also came to work in Hong Kong so she extended her stay just to be with her. With her daughter also in Hong Kong, there was no one in the Philippines to manage her business. After weighing things, Erlin returned home after 21 years in Hong Kong.

She took over the full ownership and management of the business. Among the first things she did was to tap social media to promote her business. The construction of her multi-purpose center, where she will soon operate her business, is keeping her busy.

Erlin’s involvement goes beyond her hometown something that she learned from the LSE. Fulfilling a promise she made to Wimler during her LSE days, she came to Davao in June 2017 to conduct training on fossilized flower making in Bansalan. It turned out that there were also interest for the workshop in Davao City. In the end, she conducted an additional two workshops in Davao City for women from Samal Islands and for OFW returness. The training in Bansalan was attended by mostly women including some from the Bagobo-Tagabawa tribe. All in all, Erlin trained about 110 people in Davao. Some participants are now seriously planning to start their own fossilized flower making livelihood program. Erlin showed that our country can benefit from the skills, talents, and expertise of migrant workers if given the right opportunity.

Erlin believes that she has still many things to learn and therefore, she continues to consult her mentors for advice. She also regularly attends seminars and trainings to enhance her skills and expand her networks. Recently, she attended seminars on Business Operations, Product Development, and Brand Equity Development.

Looking back, her 21-year stay in Hong Kong has prepared her for the role she now assumed as a social entrepreneur. If she did not go to Hong Kong, probably she would not have been able to attend the LSE course. Now she felt that she is more confident to meet challenges of managing Flowerqueen Enterprises. “I have no regrets that I went to work in Hong Kong for 21 years as a domestic helper. 

I got a lot of experiences which broadened my perception in life and I met people who have influenced and inspired me to be a better person,” she said. For Erlin, there is purpose to everything that happened in her life. She faced many challenges but she always found a way to be resilient.

“My greatest learning in Hong Kong is to be like a rubber ball not an egg, because an egg breaks when it falls while a rubber ball bounces back,” she said.

See Related topic: https://wimler.blogspot.com/2020/04/faces-of-migration-and-return.html
                                Story 1: Alvir Catacutan

Faces of Migration and Return: Story 1 - Alvir Catacutan

Fulfilling ALSE Dreams

The past few months have brought a series of calamities to the Philippines. Before 2019 was over, four major earthquakes rocked Mindanao and Typhoon Ursula battered the Visayas. Hopes that 2020 would start on a more positive note have been dashed by the Taal Volcano eruption and the outbreak of COVID-19. The latter has brought much of the world to a stand-still, endangering lives and livelihoods.

As of this writing, we have already heard stories of migrant workers in Hong Kong being let go as expat employers return to their home countries. Travel disruptions also inflict financial hard-ship on migrants workers that are unable to return to their job sites and have to remain in the Philippines indefinitely.

Return and reintegration are considered as the last stages of migration cycle, but how prepared are Filipino migrant workers for this? In times of grim headlines, we will focus on sharing the success stories our Ateneo Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship (ALSE) graduates who have returned home for good, started their business and are still running them today.

ALVIR CATACUTAN, ALSE 16

The story of Alvir Catacutan who worked as a domestic helper in Hong Kong for seven years gives a glimpse how training and seminars like ALSE could help migrants prepare for their eventual return.

Alvir hails from Manolo Fortich, a first-class municipality in the landlocked province of Bukidnon in Mindanao, where large Del Monte pineapple plantations are located. Throughout his adult life, Alvir has been working for others. He was a supervisor in a big company in Cagayan de Oro City. His department handled the supply chain of their products for the whole Philippine market, including in the food sector. Alvir was contented with his job until the company changed owners and inevitable restructuring of company policy led him to quit his job in August 2009 and decided to work abroad.

Working in Hong Kong

Hong Kong was the closest opportunity he had at that time since his mother worked there for 18 years. He has heard a lot about the city through his mother that he thought he could easily adjust. By March 2010, Alvir was already on his way to Hong Kong, mentally prepared for the challenges and the new kind of life that awaited him. He conditioned his mind that in Hong Kong he was no longer an office supervisor but a simple domestic helper. It turned out that he underestimated the situation.

Male domestic helpers are just a small fraction of the total 213,000 (as of February 2020) Filipino domestic helpers working in Hong Kong. Filipino men in Hong Kong may find work as family drivers, gardeners, musicians, etc., and they tend to receive higher salaries. But as a male domestic helper, it can be a different experience. For two years, he worked as an “all-around house boy” in a religious community. He was assigned in the kitchen to help prepare food daily for 150-200 people and clean large pots and pans. He worked for 15 hours a day, six days a week, and he hardly had time to rest. He lost weight because of his strenuous work and it dampened his spirit as the job felt more intolerable as days went by. Indescribably, while his life was at the lowest ebb, Alvir experienced some sort of spiritual awakening, which drew him closer to God. Here, he derived inner strength to overcome all the hardships he encountered.

Alvir changed employers in 2013, but his new job was no better. Aside from doing household chores, he also worked as a warehouse and logistics manager — a fancy job title for a delivery boy. He delivered products weighing 15 kilos per container, on the average 80 containers per delivery, to various clients and locations in Hong Kong.

Joining ALSE

“I was in this desperate situation when Louisa Galleto, a good friend who attended LSE 12,    encouraged me to attend the ALSE course in 2013. I was glad I did it because it was the turning point of my life,” he said.

“LSE became my refuge from arduous daily work and I eagerly looked forward to attend classes every two weeks for six months. I felt my life suddenly had a purpose. I found myself back.”

Through financial literacy sessions, Alvir learned how to value his hard-earned money and watched his spending habit carefully. Slowly but surely, he learned how to save. He also became more sociable and interacted with his classmates. His social networks widened, and he forged new friendships.

“I have great relationship with my ALSE classmates, my fellow OFWs, specially with my batchmates. Sometimes, I have this urge to perform better during sessions, so I won’t let them down.”

Alvir joined the core staff later that managed the ALSE course for six months for two consecutive years. It was a memorable experience for him and broadened his knowledge in managing people. He managed the bookkeeping system and trained his assistant. Most of all, he was still eager to listen and learn new things from the same sessions that he already attended before.

“I was never late or absent in ALSE classes both as a student and an a member of the core staff, which I am really proud of. ALSE was the highest point in my life while working abroad. It empowered me to reach my full potential, helping me to make my dream within my reach as I prepare for my reintegration. It gave me strength to redeem myself and restored my self-confidence to believe that one day I could make a difference. ALSE helped me defined the kind of life I want to lead,” he said.  Alvir realized that to make the best out of his stay in Hong Kong, he must have a goal in life.

Alvir started planning his business right on his graduation day. He wanted to become an entrepreneur. During his graduation testimony, Alvir said: “I know myself. I can be my own boss one day. I can build a solid foundation for my dreams. I can be a man for others.” Words that still resonate on his mind and to his classmates who listened to his speech.

Alvir left no stone unturned in planning for his future and finally made a life-changing plan.  During one of his earlier visits to his parent’s hometown and his own birthplace in Pamplona, Negros Oriental, he noticed small parcels of non-productive arable lands owned by his relatives. These are idle lands that the younger generation abandoned as they already lost interest in farming. He saw opportunity in making those lands productive, a skill he also learned from LSE. He negotiated with the owners of the land to rent it for P10,000 per hectare/year for five years. Alvir named his new agri-business as Alambijod Properties Cultivation, 2.6-hectare sugar cane plantation. He hired 16 fieldworkers to maintain the farm.

Alvir was grateful because he received a lot of support from his parents and relatives when he started his business. They ran and managed the start-up phase with the assistance of a close uncle in Pamplona until he could manage the business personally.

Then on April 16, 2017 after working for seven years in Hong Kong and almost three years after he attended ALSE, he was ready to go home for good.

First harvest

Negros Island produces 60% of Philippine sugarcane production. Cases of exploitation of sacadas (sugarcane workers) by large tract hacienderos (landowners) have been well documented. The hacienderos usually dictate the cost of labor, taking advantage of scarcity of jobs in the area. But Alvir had another plan. He wanted to run a profitable farm that also takes care of the welfare of the workers.

The practice in the area is to pay laborers through “pakyaw system,” a system of hiring a labor group for the performance of a specific work and/or service for a given period. For the specific work/service output, a lump-sum payment is made either through the group leader or divided among the pakyaw workers. Alvir let the workers decide as a group the cost of their labor, and if he thinks it is fair to him as well, they have a deal.  On the average he pays P200 pesos each worker for a four-hour work usually done from 5am to 9 am. He also plans to enroll them with basic benefits such as SSS and PhilHealth in the near future.

His business progressed as planned. He decided to cultivate the land and plant sugarcane as there are two sugar refining mills nearby like the Central Azucarera de Bais Inc (CAB) and Universal Robina Sugar Milling Corporation (URSUMCO), where he can easily sell the sugar and molasses. The sugarcanes grew well, and by February 2018, he had his first harvest.

Alvir considers his good relationship with his workers as a crucial factor in running his farm. He makes them feel that they are part of the business. He shared with the workers his hopes to help them improve their living condition while working for him. He developed camaraderie with the workers and eventually gained their trust. He is happy that he could pay the workers slightly higher than what other neighboring farms usually pay.

“I find joy when I am with my workers. Looking at them tilling the land with enthusiasm and sense of responsibility makes me proud of what I am have accomplished so far. I was able to provide them work with fair salary, which I cannot imagine I could ever do it. It is a different feeling than I have while I was still working in Hong Kong. However, I am also aware there's a huge burden of responsibilities on my shoulder,” he said.

While waiting for the sugarcane to be harvested, Alvir also ventured into copra trading in Malitbog, a second-class municipality in the province of Bukidnon. His biggest challenge so far as an entrepreneur is the lack of available and affordable trucking services since there are many competing farms seeking trucking services to haul their products. Hiring a hauling truck is very expensive; it makes up almost 50% of the hauling cost. He hopes that he gets assistance to acquire a truck and a farm tractor. He also started planning coconuts. Continuing education is important for Alvir so he attends various seminars and training whenever he finds the chance to enhance his knowledge.

Chicken joy

Last year, Alvir also helped four mothers start a barbecue business in Pamplona. Applying what he learned from the LSE course, Alvir guided the women during start-up. After a few months, the women were able to buy their own freezer and they also opened a savings account. The business is going well and they hope that this becomes a regular source of income for them. They also plan to become SSS members.

At present, they are already selling Chicken Joy, bought a second-hand motorcycle with sidecar, where they grill the chicken. They are now buying chicken meat and pork by volume to meet demand.

For Alvir, the ALSE course was the best learning experience that happened to him. “I learned all the lessons by heart and this is really the training that I always wanted. LSE opened my eyes to the business opportunity we have at home that I did not see before. It has changed the way I look at life and broadened my perspectives. The agri-business that I have started is built around what I have learned in ALSE program, from raising start-up capital (Financial Literacy) to managing people (Leadership) and creating job opportunity to the society (Social Entrepreneurship). I am eager to apply what I learned in ALSE. My way of running the business I believe is very well in line with LSE teachings,” he said.

Dream could come true but following one’s dreams is usually easier said than done. One should know what it takes to make dream happen. For Alvir, it was through ALSE that he finally found the way to achieve his dream.  Most of all, the program prepared him for his return and integration, and fortunately, it did not take him a long time to fulfil his dream.

“LSE is the biggest motivating factor why I went home for good after seven years of working in Hong Kong. Now I am running my own business. I am convinced that sugar cane farming is a profitable business,” Alvir said with pride and rightfully so.

See Related topic: https://wimler.blogspot.com/2020/07/faces-of-migration-and-return-story-2.html

Help and Hope for Over 9,000 Quake Survivors in Mindanao

In October 2019, the province of North Cotabato in Mindanao suffered three unprecedented strong earthquakes within the span of two weeks: a 6.3 magnitude one on October 16, a 6.6 magnitude on October 29, and just two days after on October 31, a 6.5 magnitude. These series of earthquakes resulted in enormous structural damage to homes and buildings, as well as to critical infrastructure that communities depend on such as roads, water supply, and power lines.


The quakes and their aftershocks also affected cities, towns and municipalities outside North Cotabato. In addition, on 15 December 2019 at 2:11 PM, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake jolted the municipality of Matanao, Davao del Sur, which further exacerbated the situation of those already affected by the previous temblor.

Thousands of people sought temporary shelters in designated evacuation centers while others preferred to build tents near their houses. According to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there are some 838,000 people living in the area worst affected by all four earthquakes.

The primary concerns for the victims were to rebuild their homes, especially as the Christmas season approached and restart their livelihoods. In time of calamities, national and local governments are mainly tasked to take care of the evacuees, but the private sector also steps in to offer immediate relief to help the survivors.

Disaster Response: Sending relief from a distance

Responding to calls by Wimler Foundation and Wimler Philippines for donations in cash and relief goods, our overseas Filipino worker communities worldwide, in particular alumni and friends of ALSE HK mobilized resources to provide help to the victims. Aside from cash donations, our OFW community in Hong Kong sent around 10 balikbayan boxes filled with necessities such as soaps, toothbrush, toothpaste, canned food, and other goods. Another number of boxes are still arriving sent by Filipino communities in Europe.

As of 31 December 2019, these efforts have resulted in the following:

• P976,126.65 (around HK$150,398) donations have been received in cash and kind from various countries. The cash donations have been used to buy kalakat (woven bamboo slats) and relief goods.

• 920 sheets of kalakat have been distributed to families in barangay Bitaug  and Alegre (Bansalan) to help them build transitional homes.  Distribution of kalakat in Baranggay Eman and Sitio Malupo  also Bansalan, Davao del Sur is also in the pipeline.

• 1,837 households have received food and trapal (tarpaulin) from various donations. These households are in Davao del Sur (Bansalan: Bitaug, Alegre, Disa, Malupo, Managa, Tubod, and Bugac), Padala, Hagonoy, Matanao, Magsaysay) and North Cotabato (Kisante and Tulunan). This includes assistance for the construction of two Temporary Learning Centers in New Clarin, Bansalan and sitio Blaan, Kanibong, Tulunan, North Cotabato.

• 1,837 households have been reached

Altogether, this assistance has helped families take the first steps toward recovery. However, the scale of the disaster, with continuing aftershocks and new quakes, means the relief and reconstruction efforts may have to continue for some time.