We conducted an interview with our subject last week and here are the informations we collected:

Mrs. Bening Delapena Templo also known as Nanay Bening was born July 15, 1939. She is 80
years old and currently living at Tramo, Brgy. Alangilan Batangas City. Nanay Bening’s hometown was in
Talaga, Mabini. When she got married, she was brought in Mindoro and started their family there. She’s
a widow at the age of 39. She’s a widow at the age of 39 and was forced to go back to Batangas City and
earn a living for her 7 children.

She applied at the Mayor’s Office and worked as a “Street Sweeper”. Her job helped her to raise
her 6 children and bring them to school (one died because of an accident). Growing old, she never
thought of applying for Social Service System, PagIBIG and PhilHealth services because her main goal
was her kids to finish studying and obtain a Diploma.

As time passes by, her children grew and started their own family, little did she knew that one
by one she’s already losing her children. At the age of 60, she was registered as a Senior citizen at the
Senior Citizen’s Office, however she told us that her last “Pasahod” was last Year(2019) of January.
“Pasahod” is what they call to the benefits the seniors are being given. Every 1 st Saturday of the month
they are having a meeting and they are supposed to be given a “pasahod” in that day.

We met Nanay Bening because she was a side walk vendor at Nucity Mall in Batangas City, she
sells candy, biscuits, cigarettes and other stuffs that she can carry. We noticed at that age that she’s still
earning and we asked her why, her answer was: “Sa pito kong anak, hindi ko sila ino-obliga na bigyan
ako pero yun man lang sanang ako ay maalala… ni minsan hindi ako nang hingi dahil alam ko na may
responsibilidad na silang kanila, pero kahit sana ang makamusta lang ako o madalaw..”. She also told
us that by the time her children started building their own families, she never got the chance to see
them for a very long time. Others have lived in Bicol, Manila, Quezon, two of her children are here in
Batangas, and some she have no idea.

Jiji and Jose her children who’s living in Batangas still visits and helped her to earn money. They
given her the capital for buying the things Nanay Bening can sell and also with the help of “KAPATIRAN
Gutierrez” they gave her a cart so that she could sell her goods easily.

Nanay Bening is currently living at Tramo with no one. She shared to us that she was asked by
one of her friends if she’s not considering the option of living at a Home for the Aged, her reply was:
“Hanggat malakas pa ko, ay magtitinda muna. ‘Pagkat malulungkot laang ako don. Atleast ditto,
marami akong nakikitang tao at nakakasalamuha. Pag hindi ko na kaya, ako na mismo ang
magdadala ng sarili ko doon”.

We ended our interview and thanked her for her time. We also asked her if she would like to
have a ride with us since one of us will be passing in the way to her house but she refused because she’s
still hoping to sell more that night.