Reina Manzan is the first recipient of the OFW’s Business Loan Program by OWWA. The former OFW who was working in Israel was very thankful for the 2-Billion OFW Reintegration Program or 2B ORP now known as the OFW Enterprises and Development Loan Program, since she and her family will get to start a livelihood after they had suffered a disastrous typhoon last 2013 hitting Western Visayas region which includes Iloilo, the place where they live.
Apparently, Reina, her husband, Ireneo and their two children were relocated from their house in Lemery, Iloilo to Hamtic, Antique before typhoon ‘Yolanda’ hit Western Visayas on November 8, 2013. Their home in Iloilo was among those houses which were ravaged and ruined.
Reina worked in Israel in 2007 and flew back to the Philippines after her employer died on 2011.
Luckily, Reina was able to put in some savings for being an OFW for 4 years and used a part of it to put up a motorcycle parts shop right in their own home. This helped their family start building their ‘dreams’ again after the trauma that typhoon Yolanda has brought.
The family’s motorcycle parts business had become successful since many residents in Antique were using motorcycles and tricycles as form of commuting and source of livelihood. But though their business had been running smoothly, they applied for the 2B ORP from the Land Bank of the Philippines to expand their shop by adding more stocks and to venture into another business—a sari-sari store.
They were also able to purchase a banca which they used for fishing and thereafter, sell the fishes and seafoods to nearby towns and cities.
With her husband Ireneo, a former farmer.
Reina is happy to share that despite the trials that they had gone through, they were able to ‘rise’ again and was thankful to say that she never missed any payment for her loans.
“I never missed payment. I always pay back my loan on time,” Reina said.
As of this writing, the former OFW is organizing an OFW Family Circle group in Hamtic which according to her was one way of helping fellow OFWs to be more productive and responsible in managing their hard-earned money.
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