Growing up, Denise Fernandez—a former monitored child under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development – Cordillera Administrative Region (DSWD CAR)—life felt like an uphill climb. For their family of six, setbacks were more like stepping stones that paved their journey to life’s successes.
With their roots in Asingan in the province of Pangasinan, the Fernandez family worked on their farm, tilling vegetables and fruits such as eggplant, watermelon, and chili, among others, as well as tending poultry.
However, in September 2009, tragedy struck as Typhoon Ondoy devastated their house and their source of livelihood. With nowhere else to go, her Dad Eddie decided to resettle their family in Baguio City in early 2010. With the help of some relatives and friends in Baguio City, they started their life anew. While their mother Alicia cared for the children as a housewife and even sidelining as a vendor in schools and in the market, their father took on construction jobs to make ends meet for their family.
In 2014, their family was included in the 4Ps, which Denise said, “provided ‘the breathing hole’, especially during difficult times for the family.” According to her, the Youth Development Sessions, Family Development Sessions and regular cash grants were a big help to their family, as transitioning to a new living environment was challening. “It really sustained us during times of hardship,” she added.
Believing education was a sure way to build a better life, their parents encouraged their children to continue and excel in their schooling, as they saw their eagerness to learn. Denise, the second-youngest of the siblings, recalled that young as they were, they were rabid readers—realizing the advantages of not having television or any other electronic gadgets back then. According to her, this helped them focus on their studies and consistently land in the honor rolls of their classes from grade school up to finishing College. Making their parents proud, three of them graduated as Iskolar ng Bayan at the University of the Philippines-Baguio and one at the University of Baguio.
Notably, as one of the model 4Ps families in Baguio City, they were awarded as 1st runner-up of the 2018 Search for Huwarang Pantawid Pamilya and Mrs. Fernandez was hailed as a finalist during the 2019 Regional Search for Salaysay ng Buhay ng Pamilyang Pantawid.
Yet in 2016, the biggest struggle for their family came, when her youngest sister Chynna was diagnosed with Lupus Nephritis and soon after her second-oldest sister Chien battled with Psoriasis. Financially and emotionally draining as these were, the family crisis brought them closer to God and to each other and even rallied support from the community. Friends from the local church, school and barangay chipped in to ease their burden. Social workers from the City Social Welfare and Development Office and the Field Office linked them up to the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) Program, which provides much-needed augmentation to their medical expenses, such as for medicines, check-ups and laboratory tests to this day. She recalled that as a working student since 2018, Denise did what she can to help cover their family’s bills and their sisters’ lifelong medications.
After having exited the 4Ps in 2020, Denise expressed her deep appreciation to the program. “It has been an uphill climb, but 4Ps helped us go up,” said Denise. “There were many questions why these trials were thrown at us. But we believe that the Lord does not give us challenges we cannot overcome.”
In 2025, 25-year old Denise joined the DSWD CAR as a field technical staff but has since left for a new journey with her husband abroad, even pursuing graduate studies.
“We didn’t believe in failure; we believed in stepping stones. We did not see these setbacks as a curse, but as the fire that forged our faith and prepared us for the kind of people we were meant to become,” Denise shared. “We know that God gave this to us because He has a good purpose for it.” // Christian Robert M. Sandoval, IO II, 4Ps
