Before the pandemic, the women’s organization were engaged in health and wellness like providing body massage to tourists as an alternative source of income, which they do after their surveillance duties in the Fish Sanctuary Rehabilitation (Community Based Coastal Ecosystem Protection and Biodiversity Conservation), a marine protected area (MPA) supported by the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP)-Global Environment Facility (GEF). With the temporary closure of tourism areas to the public, members of the SKBCM struggled to sustain their families’ needs. But Frencillo did not lose hope. Rather, she encouraged her fellow women members to get themselves ready for the P984,800-worth Seaweeds Production Project and P1.21 million-worth Grouper Culture enterprise funded by the PRDP-GEF.

Now, the PRDP-GEF funded microenterprise in Matnog is thriving—a testament of Frencillo and the SKBCM women-members’ indomitable spirit amid the adverse impact of the pandemic.