Week Two - Alalay sa Kaunlaran, Inc. (ASKI)

My grandmother (in yellow) and I smile with the Cabanatuan branch of ASKI.

Signs of ASKI and its five other business units.

Apart from the Cabanatuan branch, ASKI's main office is also located in the same building.

The sun slowly crept over the still sleeping city of Cabanatuan. It was early Monday morning and the main office of ASKI was still closed. My mind was half-asleep as I waited with my grandmother and my driver in the van.

While the weekend trip to Cebu was a nice break, it was time to return to work. Cabanatuan City was a three-hour car ride away from Manila and I had to arrive at the ASKI office before 8 o’clock in the morning. My grandmother, ever the drill sergeant of the family, vigorously woke me up at 3:30 am, turning on blinding lights and instructing me with her stern voice to “get up and dress up.” After waking up to the soft sounds of waves crashing onto the white sand beaches of Cebu, I was shell-shocked by the sudden wake-up call. Eventually, I was up and ready to go, not really worrying about the long commute.

We arrived at the ASKI office at 6:30. Without any local traffic in the usually busy streets of Manila and Cabanatuan, my driver was able to breeze through the national highway and cut the three-hour car ride into two hours. While I was upset that I could have woken up later in Manila, the van proved to be a comfortable place to nap in. As the clock hit 7:45, I got out of the van and climbed the stairs to the ASKI headquarters.

I immediately met Ms. May Garlitos, senior training specialist at ASKI and the hostess of my study visit in Cabanatuan. She wore a smile and expressed a congenial welcome to both my grandmother and me. Over the weeks of communication with ASKI before my arrival in the Philippines, I was able to secure a four-day study visit with ASKI that included studying at the Cabanatuan head office as well as the Roxas branch. With 25 branches spanning 10 provinces and 189 towns, the size and scale of ASKI’s microfinance operations would be comparatively different to the smaller Mallig Plains Rural Bank. Going beyond microfinance, ASKI is also composed of five different business units: ASKI Mutual Benefit Association (MBA), ASKI Foundation, ASKI Marketing Coop, ASKI Knowledge and Skills Institute, Inc. and ASKI Global Ltd. These business units expand the scope of ASKI's mission and vision to serve the needy of Luzon through a God-centered institution.

I knew it was going to be another busy week.