Alicia Alonzo
The Mother of Philippine Microfinance: Remembering Tita Cory and Her Mission of Alleviating Poverty
By Dan Songco, President and CEO, PinoyME Foundation
In our boardroom, we have a blown up photo of Tita Cory occupying 2/3rd of the wall. No meeting would pass that we do not rest our eyes on her smiling face. Her picture is a silent witness to all our agreements and our plans, the commitments we make to our partners and our clients. Now that she’s gone, this is one way we can continue to preserve her presence, our founder. In a way, through her picture, she is still a part of every decision we make.
She was a simple woman – what people referred to in the 80s as a typical housewife. But it is also this simplicity that made her larger than life. She is able to connect to people to all levels of society on the strength of her sincerity. Even her wisdom is the wisdom of a mother; she looked at problems like they were problems of a household. And like a mother, who knew the needs of her children, she possessed a deep understanding of what would truly benefit people.
I believe that it is this particular instinct of her that led her to microfinance. During one of her birthdays, she visited a client community of CARD in Las Piñas. The women microentrepreneurs wore their best clothes for her visit and even put on some make up. Tita Cory became fascinated with them and the way they carried themselves. “Ang ganda, ganda niyo naman,” she said, “nag-make up pa kayo. Ang gaganda ninyo.” To which the women replied, “Siyempre ma’m, kayo ang kaharap namin.” Later on when the trip was over, Tita Cory would remark “The people under microfinance, they are different. They are confident. They have self-determination. They didn’t ask me for anything unlike other people who would approach me. They shared their life experiences. They made their own money. They are working hard and they are proud of what they are doing. These are the kind of people we need for our country.”
Even though she was educated in the States, Tita Cory rejected sophistication. There were many times during our meetings to establish PinoyMe that she appeared to be disinterested in technical discussions. The way she lived her life, which was one of quiet faith, seems to have equipped her with a far reaching knowledge and sense of what is right. In one meeting, she remarked that “Ako simple lang ang gusto kong mangyari sa atin dito. Madami akong kaibigang nagtatanong sa akin: Cory gusto naming tumulong gumawang livelihood project. Saan kami pupunta? Sino’ng pwede naming kausapin? – What I want PinoyME to do is to be able to connect people to the communities that need us.” True enough, when we were developing the program for our organization, we realized that that was the role we were going to play because it was what the market needed. We will be an intermediary between those who have the financial and technical resources and those who need them.
Her prescience, her preference to stick to the essentials and her sincerity gave her the ability to draw people to her cause. She was able to raise 20 million pesos for the starting funds of PinoyME over lunch. Our board, a veritable financial and business dream team, joined at her simple invitation. No one refused. Only the truly stone-hearted can say no to her. She was also very easy to follow since she led by example.
Tita Cory exerted tremendous influence but she did not let that get to her. If a meeting was scheduled for 10 am to 12 pm, she’d insist on doing it at 9 am to 11 am. She didn’t want free lunches and hated inconveniencing others for her sake. Despite this, she was not above helping us with our requests. In 2008, we needed to raise funds from the US and we asked her to appear in a video for this campaign. She readily said yes on the condition that we do it immediately. We were able to shoot her. Two days after we shot the video, her family announced that she was withdrawing from public life because of cancer. This was her pamana to PinoyME, a personal testimony of how we intend to help the poor through microfinance and how people can get involved.
The lady in yellow was able to generate a large amount of faith by giving it to others first. During a large convention organized by Center for Community Transformation or CCT, she was the keynote speaker. During her speech, she said “Alam niyo simple lang pinagdadasal ko, kung bibigyan pa akong Diyos ng panahon, gusto ko sanang makita ang araw na maabot ang goal ng PinoyME na makatulong sa 5 million mahihirap sa pamamagitan ng microfinance.”Although we had our reservations about the projection, we pursued the challenge because she imbibed and internalized the mission of PinoyME. Driven by her vision and inspired by her leadership, we had worked hard in the last five years with microfinance institutions in reaching that goal together.
Tita Cory gave the Philippine microfinance its heart and soul. She underscored the dignity of the poor and emphasized it whenever she could. She showed us that microfinance is not so much as giving capital in order to start enterprises, it is also about showing other people our faith in their ability to take care of themselves and to rise above their circumstances. Giving small and manageable loans may be a simple gesture, but it is made all the more powerful because of its humanizing effect.
According to Archbishop Socrates Villegas, it will take several lifetimes before we see another leader like Tita Cory again. I agree. But as long as there are people willing to manifest their faith to others and to sacrifice for them, she will live on and on.
Today, the 25th of January 2012, we remember Tita Cory on her 79th birthday. Tita Cory, wherever you are we want you to know that our lives are now much better because of you and we will never be the same without you.
