Two years later she was wearing a toga, clutching her hard-earned credential and a dictionary she has come to treasure as a symbol of a new life.
"Hope to see you a successful journalist someday," wrote STAR associate editor Ricky Lo on the back page of this aspiring writer’s dictionary, a gift from Lourdes’ "godmother," STAR assistant to the president Tammy Mendoza, in the graduation rites for the third batch of learners to finish the ABaKaDAMAYAN literacy course of The Philippine STAR.
The third of five children, Lourdes, 24, was the only one who failed to continue her studies because of dire financial straits. She quit school when she was 14 and for years took up odd jobs to augment her family’s meager income.
But it wasn’t enough, until Lourdes got an opportunity to work in Japan in 2001 when she was only 19.
With two babies to feed, Lourdes says she knew she had to keep working even though it was difficult for her not to be there to raise her children.
Thousands of overseas performing artists in Japan, many of whom are Filipinos working as singers, dancers and musicians, knew they would be affected by Tokyo’s implementation of stricter immigration laws put in place in 2004 in an effort to curb human trafficking in their country.
Lourdes says it marked a beginning for her personally and as a mother.
It was a different story for Liza Marie Calderon, even if it was the familiar circumstances of poverty that forced her out of school.
Another 2006 graduate of ABaKaDAMAYAN, Liza, also 24, put on hold her options to finish high school to look after her ailing father.
It wasn’t until her brother urged her to apply for ABaKaDAMAYAN after reading about it in Pilipino STAR Ngayon, The STAR’s sister publication, that Liza thought about aiming for a diploma.
Liza topped this year’s batch of learners who took the Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) exam conducted by the Department of Education’s Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS).
Mang Guillermo, a widower, couldn’t be more proud of his youngest child when he saw her march on stage with seven other successful learners during simple ceremonies held at The STAR office last month.
"At last my youngest child is ready to go to college. Parang kahapon lang ay namomroblema kami kung paano siya makaka-graduate sa high school," the 68-year-old father says as he held back the tears.
That day, Liza, Lourdes and the rest of ABaKaDAMAYAN’s successful learners tossed their graduation caps into the air after they were officially declared graduates.
"Feel na feel nila!" says Adelina Ranga, Manila division chief of BALS, after she made the declaration.
BALS has given training for Damayan volunteers to assist the instructional managers in classes and provided the modules for learning.
The graduates expressed their gratitude to Operation Damayan, the socio-humanitarian arm of The Philippine STAR which has ABaKa-DAMAYAN as one of its programs for the underprivileged, and their "teachers," or in alternative learning parlance instructional managers, Diosalinda Pagtananan and her son, Ren Robles. Both have been with ABaKaDAMAYAN since it began in 2003.
"It’s all about patience in spite of poverty," says Diosalinda.
She cites it took Ren nine years to finish his degree in industrial education. "He was a working student and then he got involved in student activism."
Volunteers led by Tammy Mendoza and Melita Dioso began working on the concept of Operation Damayan adopting a program on alternative learning system for the underprivileged in 1999.
Tammy, who has a degree in education, was the one who brought the idea to the table with STAR president and chief executive officer Miguel Belmonte fully supporting the new project.
The stories of the graduates share the familiar plot of a normal life interrupted by poverty, and some involving family issues. They kissed their hopes of getting any formal education goodbye, and along with it the traditional perks of high school like proms and fairs.
But from disappointments, perseverance emerged for them to seize their right to education, which every citizen is entitled to.
And it’s never too late, even for someone who had not set foot in a classroom for 25 years.
Victor Taruc, who turns 40 this November, confesses that his social escapades led him to drop out of school in 1981, to compound his family’s financial woes. He later landed odd jobs to make ends meet until he settled as food handler for a popular chain of roast chicken outlets.
However, unlike Lourdes and Liza who intend to get through college, Victor says he would pursue his caregiver studies, owing to his passion for caring for the sick.
Victor lost his mother to a lingering illness a few weeks before his graduation.
For his part, Job Jonard Uy spent nine years out of school.
Job, 19, reached only the fourth grade before ABaKaDAMAYAN came along. Studying hard, Job was this year’s lone elementary graduate.
Lourdes, who vows never to leave her children again, could barely contain her excitement as she opened her Ninang Tammny’s gift and found a Webster dictionary with some cash, which she says she used to enroll at the University of Perpetual Help in Las Piñas City.
Grateful for this, she asked Tammy to sign the front page of her new dictionary.
Lourdes, who works as liaison officer at the same agency that recruited her to work in Japan, says she has set her sights on getting her degree in mass communication to become a journalist like her idol, Ricky Lo.
"Ayaw ko na iwanan iyong mga anak ko," she says of her kids aged five and two.
Lourdes cites her employer’s support for her efforts to study–from her ABaKaDAMAYAN days to her aiming for a college degree.
Liza, on the other hand, says she might take up a course in information technology as soon as she finds herself a school.
Jerome Bautista, another ABaKaDAMAYAN graduate, shares a similar interest in computers.
Like Victor, 19-year-old Jerome says he lost interest in school when he chose to be in the company of his friends more, on top of financial difficulties his family was experiencing.
Jerome says he would drive tricycles to earn money and then worked as merchandiser for a pharmacy.
He lives on the same street as Damayan coordinator Melita Dioso, as she recalls Jerome would frequently hang out with her son at their home. Jerome found himself getting encouragement from Millet to study again through ABaKaDAMAYAN.
Jerome was adjudged "Most Creative" among the batch for his artistic talent which, Millet recalls, sometimes takes place even when art is not the subject being discussed in class.
"Minsan pagtinitignan nina Ren bakit parang hindi nakikinig sa klase si Jerome, they would see him drawing something on a paper," she says with a laugh.
But armed with his renewed appreciation of education, Jerome passed the A&E exam and was among the 25 learners who took the test.
As his estranged family has long been living in Japan, Jerome says it was his girlfriend, a college graduate, who inspired him to get his education priorities in order.
She was there, he says, on the day he finally received his high school diploma.
The graduates found hope in ABaKa-DAMAYAN and in turn, their achievements give those who didn’t make it the motivation for them to strive harder.
One of them is 22-year-old Melody Barbacina, who has taken the A&E test for high school twice but the dream of passing remains elusive.
Undeterred, Melody says she is not giving up as she plans to take the exam again slated this February.
"Sana huwag kayong magsawa na magturo sa akin," she told the ABaKaDAMAYAN staff.
Melody may have yet to get her diploma, but her unwavering belief in herself embodies the mission that ABaKaDAMAYAN would continue to espouse.
The other graduates of this year’s ABaKa-DAMAYAN batch are April Acuña, Jonalyn dela Cruz, Ma. Princess Llanes and Shenny Alferez.