Poor B’laan teen gets wish to study in US

MARLITO Soriano speaks during the 2015 Pagdiriwang Para sa Pantawid Pamilya Graduates at Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—Was there any chance that his dream to study in the United States could come true, Marlito Soriano, a B’laan, asked his mother in December last year.

“When do you think I can go to the US?” he continued. “Maybe when I reach 34?”

The answer came weeks after his talk with his mother, Juanita. Marlito is going to Northeastern University in Boston, courtesy of the country’s biggest port operator, International Container Terminal Services Inc. (Ictsi), which is supporting his and another student’s education in the United States.

Marlito, 17, the eldest of six children, graduated valedictorian from New Society National High School in this city. He had planned to find a job after high school to sustain a college education that, at first, seemed to be a highly remote possibility—until the scholarship came.

“We are poor,” he said. Opportunities for the poor—and indigenous peoples—are few, he added.

“By getting free education, my parents’ burden will be lessened,” Marlito said.

His father, a tricycle driver, earns barely enough to feed the family, much less send children to college.

Marlito, however, was undaunted. He went to elementary school even on days when there was no food for breakfast. His family would dig up cassava in a plantation near their house for food.

Money needed for college tuition is much harder to come by. So Marlito knew that when the opportunity came knocking, he couldn’t let it pass.

With help from Ictsi, he took the entrance exams for Northeastern and other schools—and passed them all.

Aside from full tuition, monthly stipend, and board and lodging, the grant would allow Marlito to come home to the Philippines every year.

When he finishes his course in Northeastern, he must work for at least two years in a Filipino company as part of the contract with Ictsi.