Reflection Paper 1 - May Roxas
What were your defining moments? What incidents/events taught you to be better/transformed you?
2004: Family Business Got Bankrupt
I was born from an average household. My father was the sole breadwinner and my mother stopped working when I turned one because she wanted to take care of me full time. I have one sister and she is five years my junior. Year 2000, the factory where my father was working, closed down. He had an offer to relocate to Cagayan de Oro, but he chose not to because of the location. He received a large sum of money as a retirement fee and together with my mother, they decided to put up a trucking business. Being inexperienced, the business slowly went bankrupt and we incurred a lot of debt. From four trucks and two vans, we were left with one van (which is by the way, already second-hand) which my father used for shuttle service and for Laguna-Lucena-Laguna trips. But the income generated from this job was never enough for our family. I was staying in campus during my five years in college and in my last year, my allowance was greatly reduced that I remember skipping meals in order to afford other school expenses, such as projects and reading materials. We had to loan money from relatives and the bank to sustain all our expenses.
Because they were unable to get into college and because they believe that having a good education will help improve our own lives, my parents were hard pressed for both my sister and I to finish. They stopped at nothing to make sure that we have what we need to finish our schooling. I remember times when they are the ones who go to Recto in order to find me a book that I need. It was also a good thing that I'm studying in UP at that time, so the tuition fee was not as high as the other good universities in the country. For my graduation, they borrowed money from my Lola and neighbor so I can pay the graduation fees and tickets. As soon as I finished school, I started to look for work to help add income to our family. But I also want to take the board exam and become a Licensed Chemical Engineer. Because of this, I accepted the first job offer that I received and that is as a Quality Control (QC) Engineer in an Electronics Company in Laguna. My starting salary is only P 8,000 a month and my first pay was used to enroll in a review school and buy the book required during the licensure exam. I worked hard to balance work and studying during the months before the board exam. I feel so envious of my batchmates who have nothing else to do than study. There were even times that I cried of exhaustion. But all my hard work got paid off when I passed the board exam November 2005. A few months after, I resigned from the Electronics Company and applied in JGC – an engineering and construction company in Alabang. I was hired as a Junior Instrument Engineer.
Being a fresh graduate, my salary in JGC was only entry-level. This means that it was never enough. Thus, my father still needed to continue working on the shuttle terminal, so that my sister can continue with college and we can pay our debts. I no longer wanted my father to make those trips because he was already 55 at that time. The vehicle he was driving was so worn out that it gets broken down every now and then. Because of that, his hard-earned money just usually goes to the repair. Additionally, he did not have an LTFRB license to provide the commuter service. This means that he always had to watch-out for the LTO police.
After a year in JGC, I was given an opportunity to work overseas. I was sent to Japan to do engineering work for an oil and gas company in Qatar. This was a big help for me because even if the assignment was only 8 months, my salary improved and I was able to save. Therefore, I was also able to help my family meet our daily needs, pay our debts and send my sister to school.
Losing our source of income helped me see that life is not easy. That wanting something means working hard for it. But more importantly, one should know what he/she wants first, before he/she can work towards that goal.
