Nimpha Datuin reports daily at the Barangay Hall in the hinterland and far-flung Kulaman, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.

Aside from volunteering as a health worker in the village, she works as a clerk, a two-and-a-half-hour ride from the Malaybalay City proper. 

The Local Government Unit (LGU) of Malaybalay City hired Nimpha as a clerk and assigned her to assist the LGU of Kulaman from 2013 to the present.

Nimpha and her family are members of the Higaunon Tribe in the village.

The job is one of the opportunities the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) has opened for Nimpha and her family.

When DSWD Field Office X placed her family under the program in 2012, more opportunities opened up for Nimpha as she became more active in most of the barangay affairs. 

Junjie Elorde, Nimpha’s City Link, disclosed that the family learned and valued the importance of active citizenry from the monthly Family Development Session.

Elorde followed the improvement of Datuin’s well-being for ten years.

As it is, the Listahanan Program of DSWD identified the Datuin household of Purok 1, Kulaman of the said city, as non-poor, based on the 2019 enumeration. According to the Listahanan 3 database, Malabaybalay City, Bukidnon, has 1,750 non-poor households.

The City Link attributed the willingness of the Datuin’s household to improve their well-being, even before the 4Ps implementation in their area.

Nimpha presently serves as a Barangay Health Worker of Kulaman since 2006, while her husband, Crisanto, has been an active member of their village’s Barangay Public Safety Officer. In addition, the couple is working as a job order under the Malaybalay City LGU.

The couple was also members of the Binanglasan Irrigator’s Association, an association of farmers in the village.

After finishing their studies, the couple dreamed of a stable job for their three children. That’s why the couple works hard for their children’s future.

“I work hard for our dreams,” Nimpha said in Cebuano. The household is fluent in both the Cebuano language and the Higaunon dialect.

Today, the eldest Datuin sibling is in her second year in college at Bukidnon State University, while the other two children are now at the secondary level.  

Both local and national government agencies granted various livelihood opportunities to the household.

In 2011, Nimpha became one of the Kulaman Homemakers Multi-Purpose Cooperative’s board of directors; from 2013 to 2014, she became its chairperson. Meanwhile, from 2014 to 2015, she earned the vice-chairperson post.

4Ps also exposed Nimpha, a former Parent Leader, to training in food processing, cosmetology, beauty care, and operating a business like the Bigasan ng Barangay.

With the various interventions, DSWD Field Office X, through the administration of social welfare and development indicators, found that the family was self-sufficient in 2021.

When Elorde validated the family, Nimpha said she was happy with the outcome of the Listahanan 3 enumeration and SWDI administration.

 “I will not file an appeal. Ten years is more than enough for my family. We benefited greatly because of the program,” said the former grantee.

She said she would happily share the household slot with other low-income families under the program.

Currently, Northern Mindanao has 178,098 active 4Ps households.

This year, 58,899 households exited and graduated from the program.

==