A Profile of Success: Isidro Gariando, Jr.

Jun, who is known as such by his peers and friends, began his employment at LANDBANK in 1980 as a bookkeeper of the newly-opened Tacloban Branch. He was promoted to accountant of the Tacloban Field Office after passing the Licensure Examination for Certified Public Accountants in 1987. In 1989, after his 6 months training for field officer under the Field Officers Development Program (FODP), he was promoted as Department Manager of Borongan Field Office. Over the course of his 26 years of employment at LBP, he made the rounds of various field offices and branches in the Samar- Leyte area as Department Manager in Calbayog, Catarman, Ormoc, and Catbalogan branches.

After retiring from LBP in 2003, politics beckoned. Jun ran for a seat as councilor in his hometown of Alangalang, Leyte, and won. Having a seat in the Municipal Council gave him the vantage point of seeing issues affecting his community and contributing to their solutions. He later ran and won as vice mayor hoping that a political position would be his platform for public service.

But reality set in, as he realized that the pursuit of a political position is expensive. “Baka maubos ang retirement pay ko”, he said in jest. So, he returned to farming because, as he says, “May pera sa pagsasaka.”  

Currently, Jun is looking after his 7-hectare farm, with the help of his son-in-law, who is married to his daughter, a doctor. He is now into an integrated farming with a portion of the farm dedicated to vegetable farming, livestock raising, and a small- scale tilapia production, while the remaining 5 hectares is used for palay production. Jun has acquired a small rice mill foreclosed by the Tacloban Lending Center in 2004 to process his own palay, and he stores and sells his rice when its price goes up during lean season. He also purchased a four- wheel, Yanmar tractor to mechanize some farm tasks like plowing, harrowing, and tilling the land in preparation for planting. He later acquired a Yanmar combined harvester to do the harvesting tasks that included reaping, threshing, gathering, and winnowing. He invested in these machines to make laborious farm tasks efficient, freeing up more time for other important farm work. His future plans include the acquisition of a solar-powered irrigation pump to solve the lack of irrigation water flowing to his farmland. It is his wish that our coop of which he has been a member for almost 11 years, can help him acquire this, as it has done since 2013 whenever he needs emergency funds for his farm inputs.

Jun shares his dream of a fully mechanized farm, just like the ones he saw in New Zealand when he last visited his other daughter who is now based there, together with her family.

At 76 years old, Jun’s determination and foresight remain steadfast, and with his hard work and dedication, there is no doubt that he will achieve his goals.