Poverty-stricken Pinay takes chances in Dubai, now a jet-setting online seller

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – They were so poor, two of her brothers died “because we didn’t have enough money for medication.” Utilities were cut off at their home because they could not pay the bills. 

At 16, she worked as a part-time crew at a fast food chain. To bring food on the table, she would regularly pawn her ATM card. She dropped out of college because she often didn’t have enough for transportation fare.

She went to Dubai, saved money and went back to the Philippines to finish her studies. She had to queue up at 3 a.m. to join a noontime show contest so she could pay her graduation fees. 

And it went on. The litany of miseries in the life of Mine Jacob Bondal was so overpowering, she’d sometimes think it was her fate. But she didn’t surrender herself to it. She kept moving on, tirelessly taking one fall after another at various points, like the mythical Sisyphus.

Today, Bondal, a 30-year-old, stay-at-home mom running a thriving online selling business from Dubai, regularly travels the world with her husband and three-year-old son.

Acumen

How did she turn things around? It’s all about having business acumen, Bondal said.

“At the age of seven, I’d sell ice candy and sweets in school. I’d climb trees and picked mangoes, guavas and santol (cotton fruit) that I’d also sell in school,” said Bondal, who hails from Bataan.

On weekends, she’d walk the streets and collect empty bottles to sell at the junkshop. Online selling was not yet being practiced back then but Bondal already had a good grasp of it. “I’d go to the market, buy earrings, necklaces and bracelets – the ones that sell for P5 and I would resell them for P10 in school,” she said.

Things were going well until her father, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Saudi Arabia for 20 years, retired and went home for good in 2010. “Walang ipon pero nakakuha ng malaking backpay kasi 20 years ng service, then naubos ng sobrang bilis in one year. Biglang naghirap na kami after that,” Bondal said.

(He had no savings but got a big backpay to cover the 20 years’ work – and it was all gone in a year. We started getting poor after that.)

'Life now is about travelling around the world with my husband and son.' Photo courtesy of Mine Jacob Bondal

Bondal, whose mother was a homemaker, had just finished high school with promising grades. She was looking forward to college but didn’t have financial resources. She nonetheless obtained full government scholarship at Subic Bay Colleges where she took up a course in Customs administration.

“I was so happy. But there was one problem,” said Bondal. “I was living in Bataan and oftentimes I did not have enough to cover the transportation fare. I tried working part time at a fast food chain in Olongapo but still money fell short.”

Working her way through college, Bondal also provided financial support to her family. At times, she’d find herself crying in frustration because she could not pay the ride to school. 

Transportation from Bataan to Olongapo was P80 consisting of a long jeep ride at P30 and two tricycle rides, back and forth. But Bondal would skip the shorter tricycle rides and walk her way instead, to save P50 such that she’d only actually need P30. She still could not come up with that amount.

“Dumarating yung araw na hindi na ako makapasok ng school kasi wala akong pamasahe. Minsan umiiyak na lang ako kasi kahit piso wala. Nagtatanong na lang ako bakit ang hirap ng buhay. Gusto ko lang naman mag-aral. Ginagawan ko na lang ng paraan kagaya ng pagsasangla ng ATM card para magkapera, hanggang sa naging routine ko na ito. Kumbaga, pagsweldo bayad agad ng utang tapos utang uli para makasurvive lang. Mahalaga may makakain kami at makapasok ako sa school,” Bondal said.

(There’d be days I couldn’t go to school because I didn’t have money for the transportation, not even a peso. I would ask myself why was life so cruel to me. I only wanted to go to school. I’d pawn my ATM to have money and it became routine just so I’d survive. What’s important was we have food and I can go to school.)

Here's how the ATM card pawn works: She’d hand over her card, which is almost empty but for a maintaining balance, to a friend and give the PIN number. On payday, the friend withdraws what she owes, plus “interest” at P200 for every P1,000 of debt.

Death

It was 2012 when her big brother, their eldest, died. He was 27. “Sinugod sya sa ospital ng magulang ko. Wala man lang kaming pera, kahit piso sa bulsa, kaya hindi sya nabigyan agad ng atensyon. At ilang oras lang ay binawian na siya ng buhay. Hindi man lang namin nalaman kung anong sakit nya,” Bondal said. 

(My parents rushed him to hospital with not even peso in their pockets. He was not given immediate attention. Within hours, he passed on. We did not even know what his ailment was.) 

Bondal finally had to quit school altogether because she continued to miss classes and major exams due to her monetary issues until her scholarship was eventually revoked. She was on third year.

A break

At this point, she got a break, having been hired directly by a Dubai-based remittance center as a teller. It was 2015; she was 21.

“Lahat ng suweldo ko ay pinapadala ko sa aking pamilya. Yung typical na OFW na pinapadala lahat sa Pinas ang sweldo at halos hindi na nagtitira sa sarili. Dumarating yung time na pangkain ko na lang ipapadala ko pa. Ganun siguro yata. ‘Pag OFW, napaka-selfless. Mas ini-intindi ang pamilya sa Pinas kaysa sa sarili. Dumarating yung time na wala na akong makain o pambili ng tubig, umiinom na lang ako ng tubig sa gripo,” said Bondal.

(I was sending all my salary to my family like a typical OFW, sending everything and not sparing something for herself/himself; caring more for the family than for themselves. There were times, I had no food or money to buy drinking water, I’d drink from the tap which is being discouraged by the government because it is not fit for human consumption and only good for cooking.)
 
A year later in 2016, Bondal had to go home. Their youngest brother, 15 years old at the time, was undergoing dialysis for kidney failure. “He died three months after I saw him,” said Bondal, who had to borrow a workmate’s credit card to book her flight.

She returned to Dubai and by 2018 was back on her feet, having cleared her debts and saved a little to go back to college back home. But she soon ran out of money, again.

Online selling

“And that’s when I entered the world of online selling,” she said, apparently a thought that came up during a lightbulb moment.

She also cleared her graduation fees by joining a noontime TV show.  Nine years since she started college, Bondal finally got her diploma in April 2019. She flew to Dubai and went back to her remittance center teller job. She did not have much time because her visit visa would be expiring soon and “I needed to start making money fast, plus the offer was better.

“So, it’s fine. What’s important was that I can start sending money home,” said Bondal. 

The remittance center closed temporarily when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020. Needing to continue sending money to her family, Bondal went back to online selling that gradually flourished over time. She got married in the same year, too, to an aircraft technician.

“Life now is about travelling around the world with my husband and son. I have brought my siblings here in Dubai where they got jobs. I have  a commercial license and am selling bags, golds and watches. I have wholesalers and they ship my items across the globe,” said Bondal.

“All my hardships have been worth it. I owe my success to my husband, my biggest blessing.” —KBK, GMA Integrated News