Every celebration in the Philippines calls for a feast. While native delicacies are always present on the buffet table, lechón is the dish that should not be missed. Lechón is a Spanish word for roasted suckling pig. It is cooked over charcoal for several hours making the pork skin crispy.
Lechón is popular in the Philippines and in other Spanish-speaking nations in Latin America and Spain. In fact, lechón is the national dish of Cuba. In the Philippines, the lechón of Cebu is the most famous in terms of the quality of pig as recognized by the late American chef Anthony Bourdain.
But what really makes a perfect lechón?
In Candelaria, Quezon, there’s this man named Ruel Mariano Marquez who is fondly called by his neighbors as “Boss”. He is not, however, the typical boss you’ll see holding meetings in a conference room or someone who is in suit roaming around the metro. Ruel is the boss of the masses. People in their community give high respect to this man because of his dedication in supporting local farmers by letting them venture into hog raising business.
Ruel grew up in a family whose source of living comes from pig farming and outsourcing. This kind of business venture is profitable considering the short span of time needed to grow a pig for lechón. Ruel’s family, composed of seven siblings with him being the second eldest, has been supplying pigs to lechón producers. At a young age, Ruel stood up and took responsibility of their family business due to his father and eldest sibling’s illnesses. In effect, Ruel chose not to pursue his high school education.
“I have seen and experienced the spite of poverty. I know it is hard that is why I am doing this to at least help my neighbors earn additional income,” said Ruel.
Ruel provides every household the piglets and their needed feeds and organic foods. The only requirement is that every household should have their own pigpen. Some of the potential hog raisers have no budget for its construction. Luckily, like Ruel, these households are also clients of CARD Bank, a microfinance-oriented rural bank, which provided them loans to start their desired business venture.
According to Ruel, the income of this kind of business venture is derived after the cost of piglet and its food are subtracted from the gross sales. The minimum number of pigs every household can accommodate is at least 30, which could generate more than P15,000 in just two months.
As the demand for supply increases, the need for additional capitalization is sought by Ruel. In 2017, Ruel was introduced by Elarz to CARD-Business Development Service Foundation Inc. (CARD-BDSFI) through the foundation’s chief executive Julius Adrian Alip. The foundation through CARD Leasing and Finance Corporation (CLFC) helped Ruel in acquiring the huge lot he needs for his pigpen.
The CARD-BDSFI is a dynamic, flexible, and innovative foundation that provides marketing, business development, and linkage and networking of CARD clients and different communities to the mainstream market. Likewise, CLFC finances social enterprise and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that are potential in creating value proposition for microentrepreneurs. These two companies are member institutions of CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI), a group of 21 development-oriented institutions that aims to eradicate poverty in the country. (CARD/PR)
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