Sweeter the second time around

Posted on August 3, 2022

Just like her candies, Marilou owns the sweetest smile as she shares how her Special Carmelado sweetened the bond and legacy of their family.

The island of Masbate is known as the ranch capital of the Philippines, so it is not surprising that common local livelihoods here are making a business out of dairy-related products. Popular among them is the Pastillas de Leche, a milk candy traditionally made of carabao’s milk and sugar or better known in Masbate as carmelado, a popular Filipino delicacy that is always present in the list of top Filipinos’ favorite pasalubong.

Marilou Delavin is one of the expert makers of carmelado that customers personally visit in their hometown in Milagros, Masbate just to buy and taste her original homemade pastillas.

Marilou was in grade four when she learned how to make pastillas from her grandmother. The passion and dedication she saw in making pastillas inspired Marilou to embrace the business. As time went by, Marilou became the successor of their family’s pastillas recipe. Along with her husband who is a farmer and with her skills in making pastillas, together they work hard to make a living for their five kids.

In 2005, Marilou sought help from CARD Bank Inc. to aid her small enterprise, sadly, when her five children stepped into college, Marilou needed to pay more attention to their school expenses and decided to leave CARD in 2010 to find her luck in another source of income.

Although she managed to send her children to college, Marilou still had great regrets when she left CARD. So, when given the privilege to return to CARD in 2016 she became a client again.

“I thank CARD Bank for the opportunity of becoming a client again. Now, I know the importance of saving for the future and being insured for any uncertainty,” she emphasized.

CARD Bank, Inc. is a microfinance-oriented rural bank that aims to transform and empower women through providing financial products and non-financial services such as access to microinsurance, business development services, and marketing support.

Marilou’s passion for making candies and her dedication to the inherited recipe became the ingredients to sweeten her family’s life again. With the help of additional funding from CARD Bank, Inc., Marilou was able to re-establish and introduce her Malou’s Special Carmelado.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has also accredited her homemade candy. She is the one that the DTI often sends to trade fairs in their area and nearby provinces. Not only that, but even famous celebrities also visited her home to cover and feature her mouth-watering candies.

Today, at the age of 66, Marilou is grateful that her children and grandchildren showed interest in her family legacy, too. She taught them the style and technique on how to keep their candies delicious. As a result, candy making has also become a source of income for her two children. This is now their livelihood to make a living for their own families.

Along with her grandchildren who also help her in selling her candies, Marilou is thankful that she witnessed how the younger generation in her household appreciates the importance of candy-making in their family.

Knowing that the recipe from her grandmother will last longer even in the next generation makes Marilou emotional. She’s happy that after all, her candies had a great comeback and that her Malou’s Special Carmelado came out sweeter the second time around.

As of June 2022, CARD Bank, Inc. has now 3,846,840 total clients served all around the Philippines. To know about CARD Bank, Inc. product and service, visit their Facebook @CARDBankOfficial.