THE story of an Antiqueno’s journey on the battle against poverty won in the DSWD national convergence film competition.
The struggle and success of Vicente “Itik” Rubino of San Remigio, Antique, which was packaged and put together into a video documentary by students from Polytechnic University of the Philippines, bested other stories from different regions. Aside from winning first place, the film also won best in editing.
The awarding of winners in the competition was held recently in Manila but video documentation was conducted in the middle of October to the end of 2013.
Rubino, of Brgy. Vilvar, is married to Susan with whom he has eight children. He named them as 29-year-old Anelsan, 27-year-old Annaliza, 22-year-old Annie Rose, 21-year-old Ana Marie, all married; 20-year-old Gentle Touch, 19-year-old Vincent, 17-year-old Annabel and 12-year-old Ana Teresa.
Mang Itik had tried selling green leafy vegetables to vending fish just to feed his family. Life slowly became better when he engaged in a small business by selling vegetables at a stall in the public market of Brgy. Poblacion. They initially had a capital of P3,000 which came from his salary and the savings of his wife from vending.
Vicente was even more thankful that his family directly benefited from the convergence strategy of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The strategy, which aims to achieve maximum results in implementation, has programs such as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, KALAHI-CIDSS or Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan and Sustainable Livelihood.
PUP team
The PUP team, guided by Ferdinand Ranada of DSWD Central Office, was lead by Ferdinand Calimag and composed of Bernie Maghanay and April Ann Dorigo.
The team had to go back and forth to Brgy. Vilvar to San Remigio proper and San Jose, Antique in the shoot. They also had to pass two rivers for days to get the real scenario.
With the help of Kruhay productions, the team was able to produce the documentary depicting the complexities of Mang Itik’s life./dswd6/May Rago-Castillo