The Bittersweet Taste of Life

 The Bittersweet Taste of Life

Life is full of tests and challenges  that can make or break you. It is either you leave that path or you live it. 

Residing in Tuguegarao City, Catherine Alejo found her life to be challenging to live yet she perseveres. At the age of six, she became an orphan. Throughout her childhood, she longed for her parents’ love and care. She was the third of four siblings. Their eldest was just ten when they became orphans, which made their struggles worse. 

They grew up without a permanent guardian, relying on whoever relative was willing to take them in. Born in Amulung East, she chose to work as a housekeeper in Tuguegarao City after finishing elementary school, as pursuing her basic education became less of a priority.

She married at a young age, hoping her burden would be lighter with someone to lean on. Fortunately, they inherited a boarding house from her mother-in-law, which became their source of income.

To add to their income, she also sold snacks in front of the boarding house from 1993 to 2004, such as banana cue, lumpiang gulay, and turon. In 2005, she stopped selling snacks and became a caregiver instead. 

Given her strong interest in business, she decided to try making polvoron in 2010. However, she could not get the recipe right, so she switched to making pastillas. There were numerous trials and errors, but unlike in polvoron, she did not give up until she made the pastillas recipe that would satisfy her.  She started giving free taste to customers as part of her marketing strategy. Although her business was gradually rising, her relationship with her previous partner started to crumble, and they separated. Then she met her new partner, who helped her open a small sari-sari store. 

The business was doing well until she was forced to take a slight break when the pandemic hit in 2020. 

Post-pandemic, when she started over again. By 2021, due to her hard work and the quality of her pastillas, she had acquired more customers, and she even established a brand name for her pastillas, “Cathy’s special pastillas”. 

One challenge she encountered in managing her business was the lack of capital, particularly when she had a high volume of orders. This is why she was thankful to learn about CARD, Inc. from her child, who was also a client of the institution for nearly three years. 

In 2023, Catherine became a client of CARD, Inc. She uses her initial loan of PHP 10,000.00 as additional capital for her pastillas business and sari-sari store. Currently, she has a PHP 20,000.00 loan from the institution, which she also uses for the capital of her businesses.

“It has only been a year since I became a client of CARD, Inc., but I am positive that I will continue to become a client in the years to come, especially now that I have experienced the products that they offer, such as business loans, to someone like me who lacks sufficient capital for business,” she stated. 

She also acquired a second-hand motorcycle from her loan, which she utilizes to deliver her pastillas to customers. 

“Right now, I just want my business to grow more because, aside from being my source of income, it has also become a hobby,” she concluded. (Josephine Ramos)