The family was selected for our support by DSWD (Department of Social Welfare Development) and LCPC (Local Council for Protection of Children) Alfonso, Cavite.

She is a single mother of 5 children who are attending high school and elementary school. Her 5th child is barely a year old.

She is a manicurist, wherein she put up a shaded spot near her rented home for her customers.

Updates on August 20, 2022

RIMM assisted Merly Montealto from Barangay Marahan1, Alfonso, Cavite on the school supplies of her 4 children attending high school and elementary school.

The school supplies consisted of backpack bags, assorted notebooks, brown envelopes, art papers, sketch pads, pencils, pens, umbrellas, socks, water tumblers, rulers, coloring pens, box of face mask, toothbrush, water color, tape, scissors, highlighter pens, rubber erasers, glue, plastic envelopes and many more were provided.

Merly and her eldest son who assisted his mother to purchase the school supplies thanked RIMM for the support.

Merly said she had no means at all to buy the school supplies as a manicurist and a single mother.

DSWD and our club have been associated for education of family planning as the Philippines is known for population explosion or baby factory, which has accelerated poverty entailing people to spend more money for nursing their children.

After being educated and assisted, Merly is willing to undergo ligation, one of the most popular contraceptive methods in the country, next month.

Updates on December 10, 2022

Rotarian Casey and Raymund, together with DSWD Alfonso Gina and former councilor Carol visited the family again.

After having 6 children from different fathers, Merly has decided to undergo ligation surgery and will take a week off from her business as a manicurist.

Our Club pledged to provide a financial assistance for her transportation to the ligation facility and food for the whole family during her off-the-work period.

Learning her eldest son has been making knitted items such as shoulder bags and sweaters, the fund assistance will cover the cost of yarns for him to further pursue knitting and potential sales of the products.

Updates on January 9, 2023

Gina of DSWD accompanied Past Presidents Casey and Raymund of Rotary International Multinational Manila (RIMM) to the rented home of Merly Montealto in Barangay Marahan 1, Alfonso to give 10 kilos of rice on January 9, 2023.

Her eldest son does crochet, and some of his completed items were displayed. He is selling them for his own school needs.

Merly was ligated in December 2022 and financial assistance to survive during her resting that also included the transportation cost for her ligation and yarn materials for her son was given by our club. She has 6 children and a single mother working as a manicurist.

The main livelihood of the indigent camps (Usting 1, 2 and Camp Hope) are selling balut (incubated duck egg), taho (a sweet snack made with soft tofu, sweet syrup and tapioca balls). Many fathers of these indigent families selected for the events are construction workers.

Each indigent family received 2 bags of rice (10 kg/family). We prepared a total of 300 bags (1.5 tons) of rice, including allotments for CICL (Children In Conflict with The Law) and the staff.

Past President Casey went to Divisoria, Metro Manila and bought 150 backpacks for students, 300 pairs of slippers for children and more than 1,300 toys in different varieties.

The total cost spent for the events was nearly P120,000. AWH and RIMM shared the expenses. President Don Shields of our sister club, Rotary Club of Geelong Central, Australia, also personally donated for the events.

Our club president Lito Mondejar, Gina of the Municipality of Social Welfare and Development of Alfonso (MSWD). Anna of the Commission on Population (POPCOM), the Barangay captains, as well as several members of the Alfonso Women’s Council (AWC) joined the events. We invited 3 CICL in custody of MSWD to assist the events, so they would get involved in serving the community.

While we tried to make children happy, it was not our intention to encourage the families making more babies. Anna of POPCOM shared information on responsible parenthood and family planning to the mothers who have basically not had such education due to poverty.

The children were excited over their assorted toys and backpacks and sang Christmas songs.

Updates on December 25, 2022

Giving toys to children continued on the Christmas Day.

There were a number of toys still left from the preceded events. So we have decided to distribute them to any children passing by near our club headquarters in Alfonso, Cavite.

Small children gathered to receive the toys, and elder children received 20 peso bills.

In addition, two (2) large Balikbayan boxes filled with good quality used clothing donated by AWH ‘s Japanese guests before the pandemic were also distributed to Barangay Kaysuyo and Barangay Pajo to the most in need.

Since one of the core missions of RIMM is “Family Planning” to help control the fast growing population of the indigent communities in Cavite, Philippines  “Responsible Parenthood” events were also conducted during the Christmas giving events jointly conducted by RIMM President Lito Mondejar, Anacoreta Alcazar (Commission on Population-POPCOM), Gina Vedan ( DSWD – Department of Social Welfare Development), and Jun Baurile (Honorary RIMM Member, Philippine Army Reserve Command (ARESCOM)). 

We herewith gratefully acknowledge the support of Past President (PP) Don Shields of the Rotary Club of Geelong Central in Victoria, Australia, the sister Club of RIMM, who personally donated P35,350 as well as members of his Rotary Club who donated another P35,150.

There were more than 332 indigent families registered in the master lists of the 4 barangays that attended the 2-days event. More than 637 bags of rice and assorted canned products (corned beef, pork meatloaf, beef meatloaf, sausage and tuna) were distributed to the indigent families. 

Each family with more than 8 children received as much as 6 bags of rice. They said rice is an important food supply to have in the house even without the canned goods. Rice is the primary staple food in the Philippines.  

In addition there were 4 minors under the “Children In Conflict with the Law” (CICL) program who also received sacks of rice and assorted canned goods. These minors are under the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and with our assistance, are looking to better themselves. 

Indigent communities in “Squatter camps” such as Usting 1, Usting 2, C-5 in Barangay Luksuhin Ibaba and Camp Hope in Barangay Sicat are supported by RIMM and AWH not only during the yearly Christmas giving activities but also year-round. The young children of the 4 camps again joyfully participated in several children Christmas party games hosted by Honorary RIMM Member Jun Baurile who distributed P20 bills along with stuffed toys donated by PP Betty Vicedo of RIMM. Their parents mainly sell “balot” (a steamed fertilized duck egg and “taho” (a classic sweet snack in the Philippines made with silken tofu, sago or tapioca pearls, and a simple brown sugar syrup) as their primary source of income. The families of these 4 camps migrated from the Samar province in the Visayas to look for better opportunities for their families. 

Resource Speakers:

Christopher Joseph Soriano MD, MHPEd, FPOGS

• Doctor of Medicine degree at University of Sto Tomas
• Residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Medical City
• Masters in Health Professions Education
• NTTC- University of the Philippines, Manila

Current positions:

1. Assistant Professor, Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health
2. Assistant Training Officer, Institute for Women’s Health, The Medical City
3. Radio Host, Doctors On Line, 702 DZAS (AM Band) FEBC- Radyo TV
4. OB-GYN Consultant: Tricity Medical Center, Pasig

The doctor talked extensively about Maternal Health and Child Care During Pandemic Time citing common problems encountered of women with regards to taking care of their health when they could not go to the clinic due to travel restrictions, and answering specific questions women asks with regards to pregnancy, women’s health in general and Child Care in Particular.

Ms. Christy Parenno

• Teacher 3 Balibago National Integrated School
• Teaching Grade 11 and 12 English
• Coach several winning students in Division, Regional and National Competitions
• Candidate for Head Teacher English Department

Ms. Parenno discussed Maternal Health and Child Care from the point of view of the Mother of three healthy young children, a wife and a teacher. She poised some practical techniques on motherhood during this time of pandemic on how to cope up and home management secrets.

Ms. Annacoreta S. Alcazar

• Population Commission of Alfonso , Person In Charge
• Municipal Social Work and Development, Municipality of Alfonso

Ms Alcazar tackled the topic Teenage Pregnancy and Responsible Parenthood. She gave us recent data on young pregnant mothers in every barangay, to the Municipality and regional level. Alarming figures shows how bad the situation is.

The webinar was able to share many new information to the women that can help other women facing these challenges in their barangays and AWC President and its members were grateful to our club and its resource speakers for the webinar.
The webinar will not be possible without the help and cooperation of the President of Alfonso Women’s Council, Ms. Len Reyes and the technical support of Gia Erica Rivera. of the Alfonso Mayor’s Office.
The webinar lasted longer as planned till about 6p.m. A total 7,500.00 pesos Raffle prizes thru G cash was given to active participants coming from all the barangays of Alfonso, There were a total of 64 active participants in all Others come and go maybe of poor connection.
We awarded 74 Certificates of Participation and 3 Certificates of Recognition to our Resource Speakers.

The webinar cost of P30,000 was fully sponsored by our club.

Video and lecture of “Effective Parenting and Family Planning” performed by Captain Aimy Casabuena of Bry. Buck Estate, Alfonso, Cavite, Philippines were presented with an assistance by DSWD (Department of Social Welfare Development) Alfonso. We distributed 100 sacks of rice, 100 canned goods, and 200 coconuts to 100 indigent families. RIMM and RC of Geelong Central  received the Certificate of Appreciation as sponsors of this event.

Gina of Alfonso DSWD (Department of Social Welfare Development) conducted a group workshop to find out what contraceptives they are using and their thoughts of the disadvantages of unplanned pregnancies. Some women were not using any form of contraceptives and decided to use them during the seminar after realizing it was a serious matter for the future of their children, although their knowledge of contraceptives at that time was only pills.

RIMM donated sacks of rice, canned goods and firewood. PP Casey gave P20 bills to all the children there. Rotarian Miki assisted in the distribution of the said donation.
The indigent women and the Barangay officials of Amuyong were grateful of the meaningful event. 

RIMM gave P200 cash each to the 100 enlisted women to buy food. Pre-screening by FC excluded 15 women due to the following reasons: (1.) had engaged in sex 3 days prior to the pre-screening, (2.) positive test result of pregnancy, (3.) still in the middle of injectable contraception.

The majority of the women were grateful to avail of the implant. The insertion of the bendable match-stick like implant under the skin of the upper arm was painless and it allegedly prevents pregnancy for 3 years. Some young teen below 17 also received the implant.

PE Raymund manged to get 4 indigent women from Usting in Luksuhin to avail of the free implant and Honorary Member Carlito managed the crowd control of the event.

The forum was attended by 65 students from Grades 7 to 10 and 15 parents of some students. President Betty, Gina and Ana of DSWD were resource speakers of the forum. President Betty invited her classmate President Ann Margaret San Antonio of the Rotary Club of Manila Kalaw and she volunteered to share her insight on the issue. President Gigi Altamiramo of Innerwheel Club of Paranaque D383 also attended the forum upon the invitation of President Ann.

Video documentaries on teenage pregnancy in the Philippines were shown to visually convey the disadvantages of teenage pregnancy.

RIMM provided snacks for the participated students with which president Ann gave her share.

The forum was attended by 60 students from Grade 7 and 8. Two new speakers shared their insights on teenage pregnancy namely Dr. Evangelina Manzo (Municipal Health Officer) and Mr. Manilito Mondejar of RIMM. Other speakers were DSWD Officer Gina Vedan, Pastor Domingo Santiago and Ana Liza Alcazar of Kiwanis. President Betty Vicedo also gave her motherly advice to the young students to prevent teenage pregnancy.

The school principal of Luksuhin National High School requested RIMM if we can conduct another Teenage Pregnancy Forum for Grade 11 and 12 students because the senior high school students also wanted to participate in the forum.

President Betty relayed that school officials of Palokpok National High School in Mendez, Cavite are also interested for RIMM to conduct a Teenage Pregnancy Forum at the school but RIMM will try to comply with the request.

RIMM paid for the nutritious snacks and drinks of the students and speakers prepared by the.school canteen amounting to P2,100 (P30/person x 70 persons).