If there is a will, there is a way. With great faith, with determination, nothing can hinder what can be done with efficiency and with grace.

  Despite the pandemic and with my immune-compromised health situation, my duty as a woman in the household and in my work especially in the agriculture sector had been done in the normal way in a very abnormal situation.

  As a wife, a mother and a grandmother, I really performed as the anchor of the house giving assurance that all is well as long as we stay at home. Words of encouragement to the members of the household was intensified to brace each one to go on normally.   In my work, all went normal in the abnormal way also. Being the Business Development Unit Coordinator, the routine in the supervision and giving directions to the staff went on with encouragement to the subordinates to sustain the seed production activities and business, though I worked from home most of the time. The rice seed production must go on to sustain food availability and to achieve the target income for the station.

  The seed availability to rice seed growers and farmers must be continued, hence, we did try to call the major seed buyers and seed coops in the region. We provided them the necessary information and the IATF memo to sustain food production. That ignited the movement of seed producers and farmers to purchase the seeds they needed from PhilRice. We encouraged the farmers to pool their orders, so only few will get out to pick up their seeds. For 2020, there were 691 seed buyers who bought more than 64 tons of seeds of rice seeds.

  Then during our Christmas program last December 23, 2020, at the middle of the celebration, we received a news that one of our guests who visited the station showed a POSITIVE antigen result, and I was one of her primary contacts. About less than 10 staff, including me, were immediately isolated. It was sad, not to be with our family during the isolation period especially that it’s Christmas. Being the most senior in the group, I needed to be strong and to bring a lot of encouragement to somewhat ease disappointments to them. I used my connections to bring in food and our immediate needs so that despite our situation, we will still feel the spirit of Christmas. God is good, the RT-PCR result of our “suspected-positive” guest was NEGATIVE and we were released evening of December 25 so that at least we can enjoy the rest of the day with our loved ones. Indeed, even negative situations can turn positive if we have Faith in God.

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Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) is a government corporate entity attached to the Department of Agriculture created through Executive Order 1061 on 5 November 1985 (as amended) to help develop high-yielding and cost-reducing technologies so farmers can produce enough rice for all Filipinos.

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Philippine Rice Research Institute