May Frances S.

Calsiyao Economics 181-JX

2003-41755 February 20, 2007

Investment on Human Capital Resources: A Case Study

This paper attempts to analyze how my family invested on human capital

resources using human capital theory. It seeks to look at different aspects of human

capital investment like education, training, and migration. It also strives to look at the

changes in the kinds of education, training and even status from my grandparents to my

parents and to me.

First, let us start with the basic description of how my family invested on human

capital resources. My grandparents on my mother’s side, Julio and Fermina Sad-ang,

originally come from Bontoc, Mountain Province. My grandmother grew up in Benguet

because her parents migrated from Bontoc to work in the mines. She only finished up to

Grade IV in elementary due to economic constraints. My grandfather, on the other hand,

was born in Benguet but resided in Bontoc until he finished high school. He became a

miner in Philex Mines while my grandmother became a housewife, but she also engaged

in small businesses in order to augment the family income. As the years passed, due to

additional job trainings, my grandfather was promoted until he became the supervisor of

safety inspectors. That was his job until he retired on April 2000. My grandparents were

also able to send their four children, the first being my mother, to school until they

finished college.

On the other hand, my grandparents on my father’s side, Ceferino and Natividad

Calsiyao, lived as farmers in Tanudan, Kalinga. My grandfather Ceferino finished only

up to Grade 2 before World War II. Apart from his brief employment as a jail guard in
Iwahig, his work was always farm-related. This is also true for my grandmother

Natividad who only finished up to Grade 1 after the World War II and also tilled the

fields that she and my Lolo owned. Their lands became their main source of living; and

with these lands, the family was able to send six of the seven children to school until they

finished college. My Auntie Emilia, who did not finish college, however, was given

more shares of the fields and now works as a farmer with her husband.

Though my father’s parents owned the lands that they till, their income was not

sufficient to send all their children to school; so my father and his siblings had to stop

once in a while to earn money then go back to school after a year or so to continue their

education. After earning his degree in Criminology, my father studied Law at BCF while

working at the same time. My mother on the other hand, finished Geodetic Engineering

at SLU. After their wedding, they settled in Kalinga where my siblings and I were raised.

My father initially worked for DAR, and KSDA and lastly at the Public Attorney’s Office

where he now serves as Public Attorney III and District Attorney as well. He also took

up his Masters in Public Administration in Saint Paul University, Tuguegarao. My

mother first worked as a clerk in COMELEC. Then she took up a second course, BS in

Secondary Education and taught English at Tabuk Institute; later, she became an English

teacher in Kalinga State College. As far as educational investment is concerned, my

parents are striving to send me and my four siblings to school until we also finish our

college degrees.

Here, we can already see that my grandparents on both sides had a relatively

lower investment on education than my parents. This is due to the fact that my

grandparents, when they were young, were poor and couldn’t afford to buy uniforms,
paper and other schooling expenses. Given this situation, their marginal costs are higher

than the marginal benefits that they expect to receive; therefore, they chose to work

instead of pursuing education as a form of human capital. Also, the kind of job that my

parents do differs from those of my grandparents as an effect of the education that my

parents received.

It is also interesting to note that my Lolo Julio, despite having only finished high

school, and initially worked as a miner, but retired as a supervisor of safety inspectors.

Education had nothing to do with it but on-the-job trainings do. He invested in these

trainings and was promoted several times, therefore, increasing his income. Of course

my other grandfather Ceferino was trained in the traditional way of farming early in life,

just like my grandmother. My parent’s on-the-job trainings were also done during their

first few years in the labor force, which coincides with human capital theory which says

that trainings are mostly done by younger people.

Regarding mobility and migration, my grandparents were not so mobile in that

Lolo Ceferino and Lola Natividad did not migrate to other places due to the long distance

from the barrio to urban areas and the high cost of transportations. Also, during their

younger days, there were no roads yet leading to the barrio, only footpaths. Lola Fermina

and Lolo Julio only moved from Acupan to Philex, both of which are located in the same

province, in order to seek better employment. As for my parents, my father, who

originally resides in Tanudan, Kalinga settled with my mother in Tabuk, Kalinga. This

move was brought about by the fact that job opportunities were for lawyers like my father

are greater in Tabuk than in Tanudan, which consists largely of farming communities.
 We also see that employee turnover was low for my parents and even for my

grandparents. Two of my grandparents farm their own lands so employee turnover is not

applicable to them while my Lola Fermina was a housewife and a businesswoman so it

also doesn’t apply to her. My Lolo Julio had different jobs when he was single but he

worked only in Philex Mines when he was married until he retired. His long stay in

Philex could be explained by the free housing, water and electricity for employees there,

aside from the large size of the company which allows for upward mobility. My father’s

job turnover was also higher when he was younger but finally decided to stay in PAO

despite of other job opportunities. This is quite unusual because upward mobility in PAO

was slow; he was promoted only once from Public Attorney (PA) II to PA III. But I

guess the wage effect is high and he satisfied with his job. On the other hand, my

mother’s reason for transferring from Tabuk Institute to Kalinga State College was due to

employer location, the latter being a lot nearer.

Lastly, we could see the difference in the works of my mother and grandmothers.

My Lola Natividad works in the farm which was common and traditional in Kalinga

while my Lola Fermina sells siopao, halo-halo and other things yet still has a lot of time

for household production. But my mother is different in that she allots more time to

teaching, showing that she has a high ratio of purchase to household time. This change

can be attributed to time-saving technology and hiring kasambahays to do household

work for her.

In general, we could say that there have been changes in human capital resources

over time in my family. These changes were visible in different aspects: education,

training, migration and job mobility.