DAVAO CITY – Every day, 38-year-old Angelito Ducosaring wakes up at 4 a.m. to prepare food for his two children before going to school.
DUCOSARING at work. (Keith Bacongco)
Two hours later, he boards a jeep from Matina District here for a nine-kilometer ride to his mobile phone repair shop in a business district known as Uyanguren.
But Ducosaring is not like any normal living technician. He was born almost without limbs.
But instead of a typical cane, he moves around with a plastic stool chair that he clips between his knees and deformed shin.
But this did not deter him from making a living to raise his two children who are now in Grades 2 and 6.
"Every morning before I leave the house, I make sure that the packed lunch for my kids is prepared," said Ducosaring, the family breadwinner.
By 6 a.m., he opens his makeshift shop on the sidewalk of the bustling Magsaysay Ave., also known as Uyanguren.
His working table, which is just about three-feet wide, is squeezed in between two other mobile phone technicians.
Ducosaring said he has been repairing computers and mobile phones for 13 years.
He earned a certificate course on computer hardware repair through a program of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
"But I'm a self-taught phone technician. I'm just fond of tinkering with any electronic gadgets and even home appliances," he said while opening the back cover of a smartphone using a tool held by his deformed limbs.
Ducosaring does not use any special tool to repair the gadgets. He employs the same tools and techniques like his colleagues.
But he admitted that it was tough to familiarize with the tools during his early days because of his limitations.
Ducosaring admitted that extreme heat these days has shun away most of their customers.
"Before these extreme heat conditions, I had a lot of repair works. But recently, there are days that I don't have any income," he lamented. “Some prefer to have their phones repair in indoor shops because of the heat."
This city's urban heat index ranges between 38 to 42 degrees Celsius due to the El Nino phenomenon.
As a result, Ducosaring is struggling to pay the P700 daily space rental for his shop even if he works until 7 p.m.
Ducosaring said that this does not discourage him from doing his daily routine.
Before working as a full-time technician, Ducosaring worked at the office of Barangay Catalunan under then Barangay Captain now first fistrict Rep. Paolo Duterte a few years ago. When his contract ended, he opened his own repair shop.
He also worked in a computer repair shop for two years.
"It's hard to depend on others, it's hard to just ask from anyone else. What if they will stop helping you? That's why I'd rather work hard to feed my family than to depend on others," he said.