Summary

Nanette Garong is a solo parent who rose through the ranks in the Business Process Outsourcing industry in Cebu. Her years as Sangguniang Kabataan leader led her to political work with several local government leaders. As a mentee in the third cohort of the Development Entrepreneurship mentoring program, she pursued reform ideas to assist solo parents. After her erstwhile friends in the BPO industry resisted her efforts, she turned her attention to the Municipal Government of Cordova, using her social capital to secure an important executive decision that led, a few years later, significant institutional support and actual benefits to solo parents in the Municipality.

Introduction

As Sangguniang Kabataan leader in the early 90s, Nanette Garong caught the attention of political leaders who engaged her in more local government work. When she decided to raise her child on her own, she sought employment in the burgeoning Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in Cebu. Around 2018, she bridged the gap between her two interests by managing Cebu City’s Call Center program.

It was not surprising that when she joined the Development Entrepreneurship (DE) Mentoring Program, in 2023, she pursued reform ideas to benefit solo parents.

The Reform Experience

Nanette’s initial reform idea was to secure additional benefits for mothers employed in the BPO sector. To better understand their needs, she designed a survey and reached out to her contacts in the BPO community—friends in HR and management positions—asking them to run the survey within their companies. However, her efforts were met with resistance. Her BPO contacts pointed out that companies were already striving to comply with RA 11861, also known as The Solo Parents Act, and offering further benefits would increase costs—something that the already competitive BPO sector could not afford.

Faced with this setback, Nanette turned to her mentor, Dr. Grace Jamon, for guidance. Dr. Grace helped her accept a difficult reality: no matter how persuasive Nanette’s arguments were, her social capital within the BPO sector was not enough to outweigh the companies’ institutional priorities and financial considerations. It was time to pivot.

Nanette redirected her efforts to an area where she also had significant social and political capital: local governments—particularly the Municipality of Cordova, where she had supported the new Mayor, Cesar Suan, during his election campaign.

To gain a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by solo parents in Cordova, Nanette began engaging with the community and local government offices. She discovered two key issues: first, no dedicated staff member was tasked solely with addressing the needs of solo parents; and second, there was a recurring request for a monthly allowance of at least 1,000 pesos for solo parents. When she brought this proposal to the Municipal Budget Officer, she was informed that while the local budget was tight, approving such an allowance would ultimately be an executive decision.

Confident in her relationship with Mayor Suan, Nanette decided to leverage her political capital to make the case for a monthly allowance. However, the mayor turned her down. He explained that the municipality’s limited income could not sustain such an additional expense, but he encouraged her to explore alternative ways to support solo parents.

Undeterred, Nanette looked for other opportunities to create meaningful change. She turned to the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO), the unit responsible for supporting vulnerable sectors. Here, she discovered a significant gap: the office lacked a permanent head. The previous Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officer had left with the prior administration, leaving the office under the care of an Officer-in-Charge. Despite the importance of this role, no one in the current administration had been willing to spend their political capital to endorse a permanent appointment.

Recognizing the potential impact of a strong, full-time leader in the MSWDO, Nanette decided to act. She approached Mayor Suan once again, this time advocating for the formal appointment of a qualified department head. The mayor agreed. On October 6, 2023, Mr. Perito B. Mahinay was officially appointed as the head of the MSWDO.

Nanette’s persistence and strategic use of her political capital ensured that Cordova’s solo parents now had a dedicated advocate in the local government—laying the foundation for better support and services in the future.

Impact

Since his appointment, Mr. Mahinay has spearheaded significant initiatives to support solo parents in the Municipality of Cordova. One of his first efforts was to update the registration of solo parents, aligning with amendments to the national Solo Parents Act that increased the age of dependents to 21, reflecting the completion age for K-12 education. As of September 30, 2024, a total of 252 solo parents have been officially registered in the municipality.

Mr. Mahinay successfully proposed and secured a ₱300,000 budget allocation for capability-building activities, including trainings and seminars designed to empower solo parents. Recognizing the importance of collective action, he led the organization of Solo Parents’ associations across all 13 barangays and facilitated the creation of a municipal-level federation. To further incentivize leadership, he worked to ensure that honoraria were provided to the officers of the federation.

Operational improvements were also a priority. Mr. Mahinay oversaw the procurement of supplies and equipment to streamline the issuance of Solo Parent IDs, while appointing a Solo Parent Focal Person within the MSWDO to coordinate and oversee solo parent-related programs.

Leveraging additional resources, Mr. Mahinay successfully accessed ₱1.5 million in funding from the office of Senator Francis Tolentino. On February 16, 2024, this amount was distributed to solo parents and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). Further demonstrating his resource mobilization skills, he worked with Congresswoman Daphne Lagon to secure ₱3,000 in financial assistance for each solo parent, which was distributed on August 22, 2024.

Despite these successes, Mr. Mahinay and the MSWDO continue to advocate for the approval of a ₱1,000 monthly assistance for solo parents, recognizing the urgent need for sustainable financial support.

These accomplishments underscore the critical role of political capital in strengthening institutions. Through Nanette’s strategic intervention, the MSWDO has emerged as a more capable and responsive office, dedicated to addressing the needs of solo parents in Cordova.

Development Entrepreneurship Principles in action

The DE principles that helped her pursue her reform, Nanette said, were:

• Starting with what she knew, who she knew, and what she had;
• Grit – she persisted after her BPO friends said no, after the mayor also said no to the idea of a monthly allowance for solo parents.

Moreover, she said that in her experience, she had to use her political capital to convince the policymaker. She said it was a gamble on her part, but she’s happy to see that her bet paid off, seeing how much stronger the Cordova MSWDO’s programs for solo parents are now.