Nestor Gicaraya

My wife, Razel, and I both come from poor families. I work as a Math teacher while my wife works as a Science teacher. As educators, we firmly believe that education is wealth. That is why in 2003, when a Philam Life agent introduced an educational plan for our newly born daughter, Gizel Mae, we were easily convinced.

But there was a challenge - my wife and I were still supporting our own families. In short, we were left with a very limited budget for our child’s plan. How could we pay the quarterly payment of P3,266.85? We were in a dilemma. Affected by other responsibilities, we needed to raise the said amount every three months.

My wife and I discussed a possible win-win solution. I started with a simple calculation: our quarterly premium of P3,266.85, if to be divided into 90 days, equals P36.30. That means, we needed to save that amount daily in order to raise the quarterly payment. We made a deal. I told my wife to save P18.15 each day and promised to save the other half.

We worked hard and kept our promise to save P18.15 a day. We weren’t thinking of the thousands of pesos at that time but only focused on our daily half for our daughter’s educational plan.

After a quarter, I was able to save P1,663.50. My wife shared her savings too, giving us a total of P3,267. I smiled because there was an extra 15 cents in our savings. It was a miracle. We were really faithful to our quarterly payment. Our money grew exponentially because we saved regularly. That was our secret.

When we received a letter this year congratulating us for finally being able to complete paying for our daughter’s educational plan, I was not able to hold back my tears. Now, we are sure that we’d be able to send our daughter to college.

Looking back, I realized we really made the right decision when we chose Philam Life as our partner. It never let us down and I believe it never will. In fact, I got another plan with health and medical benefits last December 2008.

In March 2009, I was hospitalized. I didn’t expect to get any benefit from Philam Life since I had just been paying for it for roughly three months – but I did. I received hospitalization benefits from my plan. Philam Life stayed true to its word despite the global financial crisis that time. I knew I definitely had someone to count on.

With our determination and with Philam Life’s help, we were able to reach our goals. Truly, Success = Patience + Hope + Determination + Philam Life.

Thank you, Philam Life, for teaching us to dream the impossible dream and helping us make it a reality. The unreachable star is in our hands because of you. Mabuhay ang Philam Life!