Benjamin was once a sponsored child. Today, he sponsors 8 children of his own.

Benjamin Monterola is a picture of success by anyone’s standards. As the co-owner of Jackson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a growing pharmaceutical company in the Philippines, he imports critically needed medicines from India and Korea for sale to private hospitals. He loves to travel both nationally and internationally, including within the bustling streets of Manila he calls home. He’s a loving dad, brother and son, close with his family and many friends. He also sponsors eight children through ChildFund Philippines.

Eight children? You read that right. In fact, he’s one of the first multi-child sponsors in the Philippines, where in recent years ChildFund has begun a local sponsorship program.

“As a sponsor, you become the bridge between a child’s present situation and a brighter future,” Benjamin says. “Your support gives them access to opportunities they may never have had otherwise—opportunities to learn, grow, develop their talents and believe in themselves.

“I know this because I was once that child.”

Benjamin at his office.

Benjamin—or Benjie, as he was called in his younger years—grew up in Pagadian City, an area on the southern Filipino island of Mindanao known for its dramatic mountain vistas and fresh, delicious seafood. The fifth child in a blue-collar family with six children, his birth order seriously affected his opportunities: It was traditional for low-income families to invest mostly in the oldest children, who were more likely to be viewed as breadwinners. While older children sometimes got to attend school, that opportunity often wasn’t available for younger children, let alone the fifth in line. Nevertheless, Benjamin was determined to work hard in school to support his family.

“It’s not a child’s fault that they are born into circumstances where opportunities are limited,” Benjamin says. “Like any other child, they have dreams, aspirations and the potential to achieve great things. However, because of the struggles their families face, many of those dreams remain out of reach.

“When your parents’ income is unstable, it’s hard for them to send you off to school. It was hard for us even to eat three times a day. So, it’s a blessing that I was sponsored.”

 Benjamin receives an award for his academic performance during elementary school.
 

Benjamin, top left, with his family in the 1990s.

Benjamin remembers the initial interview with the representative from ChildFund (then Christian Children’s Fund), a kind nun by the name of Sister Maria Lourdes Mercado. He was in the fourth or fifth grade at the time. He remembers telling her how much he wanted this opportunity, as one of the younger children in the family. He even remembers the day they connected him to his sponsor: an American woman named Ms. Thompson.

At the time, however, Benjamin didn’t realize just how much opportunity the sponsorship would involve. Sister Mercado was looking for more than just another child to enroll in the program, to support with school supplies, medical assistance and other basic needs. It was an important time for advocates of children’s rights: The Philippines was about to hold its 1st National Children’s Congress in the capital city of Manila, and she needed a passionate, well-spoken child to represent ChildFund.

“After I was sponsored, Sister Mercado called up those individuals who had potential. Of course, you know, when you are a kid from a poor area, you are thinking that Manila is amazing – the land of milk and honey!” Benjamin laughs. “It was impossible for my family to ever go there because it was very far. But ChildFund was going to bring one child, all expenses paid, to Manila.”

Benjamin was selected out of a group of 50 children to participate in the Congress.
At first, he couldn’t believe it. He felt shy and nervous. But ChildFund supported him with leadership training before the event, and he turned out to be exactly the representative they needed.

“[ChildFund] does so much more than just help kids in their education—they’re also training children to be future leaders. These were whole new skills for me,” Benjamin says. “I am speaking to you right now because at an early age, this helped me.”

After that, every time there was a children’s conference or event, ChildFund would send Benjamin to speak. And each time he returned to Pagadian City, he would share what he had learned with other children. 

 Benjamin and his friends at a ChildFund event as teenagers.

ChildFund continued to support Benjamin throughout high school and college. At 19 years old, he served as president of Kalambuan Youth Organization, a local organization established in 1999 by 15 ChildFund alumni united by a shared commitment to service.

Then, at just 21 years old, he landed a job as an information officer for the local government.

“If I had not been trained on how to speak, maybe I would not have gotten that position,” he says. “I would not have had the confidence.

“The tangible things ChildFund gave helped me survive, but the leadership and development training, that really shaped me.”

Benjamin worked for the government for five years before going into business. His dreams continued to take flight, and eventually he started a family of his own.

 Benjamin with his son on vacation in Australia.

Meanwhile, long before ChildFund Philippines’ local sponsorship program officially started, he found creative ways to give back to children in need of extra support.

Whenever the ChildFund office needed a former sponsored child to participate in an event or speak, Benjamin was there. Each December, he would travel back to his hometown of Pagadian City to attend the ChildFund Christmas party, donating gifts and school supplies for the children. He also supported four children, sponsorship style, unofficially over the course of several years, making private donations for their education. (Today, one of those children is even a social worker for a ChildFund project!)

When the local sponsorship program was officially launched, Benjamin volunteered to help find sponsors for it. Then he had a piercing thought: “How can I convince other people if I don’t start with myself? How can I encourage them if they don’t see me doing it?”

He signed up to sponsor one, then two, then three. Today, he sponsors a total of eight children through ChildFund.

“I am privileged to become a local sponsor myself. It is my way of giving back and helping another child discover their own potential,” he says. “By sponsoring a child, you are not simply providing assistance—you are helping shape a future leader, a future professional, a future parent and a future contributor to society.”

In addition to sponsoring children, Benjamin is once again serving as the president of Kalambuan Youth Organization, which has recently been reactivated by its members—most of whom are former sponsored children like him. He dreams of the organization growing and becoming a center for empowerment, collaboration and social responsibility for young people, where the youth who receive support learn to become agents of change within their own communities.
 
 Benjamin and his son pictured with ChildFund donor coordinator Ms. Jenicka and program director Ms. Ces when they visited his office to sign the sponsorship contract.

As the years pass by and the impact of Benjamin’s support grows, there’s just one pressing question that continues to weigh on his mind: Who was his sponsor, really?

When Benjamin was still a child, Ms. Thompson would sometimes send direct financial gifts—$10 or $15 here and there to support his basic needs—and he knew it was her sponsorship that connected him to so many growth opportunities. But although he wrote to her regularly about his life and achievements, she never wrote back.

Who was this mysterious person whose kindness had, unbeknownst to her, opened such doors of opportunity in his life?

“These days, I find myself reflecting on that chapter of my life with deep gratitude and curiosity,” Benjamin says. “Childhood serves as the blueprint for your future. It’s during childhood that you begin to learn about the world, experience both setbacks and motivation, and start envisioning the person you want to become. Because of that, it’s essential that childhood is well-guided, ensuring a positive direction later on.

“I cannot imagine where I would be now if not for that beautiful soul who believed in me. Her kindness changed the course of my life.”

To this day, Benjamin is still looking for his sponsor.

“I’ll do my best to find and meet her,” he says, “just to personally thank her for all she’s done.”