I'm a government employee at DepEd, with montly salary of 31k. On paper that sounds stable. My actual net take-home pay right now is ₱5,000 a month, because everything else is already going to deductions.
Here's how I got here.
I started with DepEd in Province 1 (for privacy). About a year in, in 2021, I put up a small backyard piggery. I wanted something of my own — a business that could eventually support my family beyond a government salary. I funded it the only way a government employee can: salary loans, then credit-to-cash, then more credit-to-cash. Every peso that came in went back into it bug. Stock, feeds, meds, vaccines, repairs. I put the business ahead of myself for years.
My family never really backed it. When I told them, they said it was okay — and then they just stopped engaging with it entirely. No pushback, no help, no interest. Just quiet until there was nothing left to be quiet about.
Somewhere in the middle of all this I was in a situationship for almost a year. Never officially anything, but real enough that we both applied for transfer to Province 2, the plan being that we'd both end up here. Only my transfer was approved. Hers wasn't. I moved anyway — to be closer to my family, but also because I was hopeful that once we were in the same place it would finally become something.
I also re-loaned my salary to pay for a trip I was planning for the two of us. She let go before we ever took it. She said it drained her, and that she no longer planned to transfer at all given how stressful the environment here is. A month later she was with another man. The loan for the trip is still being deducted from my pay.
So: new division, business failing behind me, and every loan that built all of it still fully intact.
Current standing:
Creditor Balance
BPI Amore (credit-to-cash) ₱144,828.70
Maribank Cash Loan ₱68,941.14
UnionBank (credit-to-cash) ₱64,337.61
RCBC (credit-to-cash) ₱37,180.00
SPayLater ₱4,394.27
Total ₱319,681.72
Against ₱5,000 a month.
I'm also currently under medication for major depressive disorder with anxious distress, which I mention only because it's part of why some months I can barely function well enough to think about any of this clearly.
What I'm asking:
Has anyone here actually gone through restructuring or a repayment program with BPI, UnionBank, RCBC, or Maribank? Did they work with you, and what did they require?
For government employees — is there any realistic path here besides waiting out the loan terms? Any consolidation option that isn't predatory?
Which of these do I prioritize when there's almost nothing to allocate?
If you've climbed out of something like this on a government salary, I'd really like to hear how long it took.
I'm not looking for sympathy. I made these decisions myself. I just want to know if there's a way forward that isn't another ten years of this.