FROM THE MARGINS
Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to re-visit the beautiful island of Boracay. Walking along the beach, I cannot help but recall how the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the residents’ livelihood. I know that microfinance clients suffered during the lockdown. There were very few visitors and tourists. Hotels were almost empty. The massage services that used to litter the beach were shut down. Many establishments and stores were closed. Nights were eerily quiet.
Things are different now. Boracay was a hive of activity as I walked the beachfront. Local and foreign tourists abound. Restaurants and shops were making a heyday, while hotels competed with offers of discounts, live shows and music. Tourism, the island’s chief source of income, is back with a vengeance.
Pinoys helping Pinoys
That first night, I left the cozy ambiance of my hotel and met Celestra Obianala, the owner of a bustling souvenir stall. She is already 70 years old, but energetically crows: “Kayang-kaya ko pa!”
Celestra proudly talks of her five children, all college graduates. Her microenterprise is fueled with microfinance, as she has been an MFI member since 2007. Before the pandemic, her enterprise loans reached as high as ₱100,000; now she is just happy that business is good enough for her to get a ₱50,000 loan for her microenterprise.
“Gumaganda na ang negosyo kasi marami ng turista,” she explains. Celestra says the influx of tourists started in October 2022 and peaked in December. She also noted that there are more local than foreign tourists, happily observing that local tourists spend more compared to foreigners.
“Pinoys, especially balikbayans, buy more souvenirs as gifts and pasalubong,”Celestra laughs.
Microfinance and microentreprises
It is not just Celestra who told me that microfinance helped her grow her business. I also met 50-year old Vivar Micayas, who has been an MFI member for years. She rents a small stall to sell beach clothes and accessories, while her husband works as a tour guide and photographer. Her youngest son is a boatman who rents out his grandparents’ boats to tourists.
While the Micayas are an enterprising family, the pandemic halted their livelihood so they turned to farming and fishing to survive. Vivar is happy that the tourists are back. She agrees with Celestra that local tourism is making all the difference.
“Doon kami kumikita sa mga balikbayan, hindi sa mga foreigners,” Vivar observes. “Sila kasi ang namimili ng mga pasalubong. Yung mga foreigners, gusto lang talaga nilang magbakasyon.”
On my way back to the hotel, I met Jerry Aurelio, a 59-year old e-trike driver. Another MFI member, he is proud to say that he pays his amortizations diligently, appreciating how microfinance helps the community’s livelihood. Jerry reports that his driver’s income is now on the upswing, reaching as high as ₱1,200 a day.
Boracay is alive again, bustling with visitors and businesses. Though shop owners say they are yet to attain pre-pandemic sales, it is apparent that Boracay is recovering from the six-month closure ordered by former President Duterte in 2018 and the three-year hiatus brought about by the pandemic. The temporary closure was well received by the people; they said it fostered discipline, cleanliness and order, and gave their island a much-needed space for rehabilitation.
Center meeting
My trip included a visit to Lapus Lapus, located on Boracay’s eastern side, to attend an MFI center meeting. Here, the mood is not so sanguine.
The center has 115 members, mostly employed as laborers, street cleaners, hotel staff and informal sector workers. Many of their microenterprises, especially sari-sari stores, are still closed. They are yet to recover from the pandemic, but the account officer still reported a ₱31,500 collection and 92 percent loan repayment rate. She even told me that the clients who were not able to pay during the meeting promised to pay within the day, so the repayment rate will be 100 percent.
The members’ stories are varied: one operates a store, but sales are not as good as before so she cut in half the amount she borrows as puhunan; another took a loan for house repairs, making do with her P250 daily earnings from a laundry shop. Many members work as food vendors to make ends meet. One of the members, a masseur, lamented that they are yet to be given again a space to offer massage services to tourists near the beach area.
I can see that MFI clients, despite difficulties, are very resilient. As an MFI branch manager told me: “I am glad that we are now on our way to recovery. When I arrived here two years ago, during the pandemic, the portfolio-at-risk (PAR) was at 60 percent! Now, our PAR is at nine percent. Members are paying back their past due loans. Many are getting loans to re-start their businesses.”
I am glad to witness Boracay’s recovery. So, I end this piece with a popular quote, origin unknown, to celebrate both the beauty of Boracay and its people’s admirable resilience: “Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.”
(Dr. Jaime Aristotle B. Alip is a poverty eradication advocate. He is the founder of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually-Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI), a group of 23 organizations that provide social development services to eight million economically-disadvantaged Filipinos and insure more than 27 million nationwide.)