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Eastern Samar balut vendors make ends meet during pandemic

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Photos and text by Alren Beronio, ABS-CBN News

<p>Walking around the city center and Baybay Boulevard in Borongan City, Eastern Samar while looking for potential customers, vendors shout the name of their product to get attention. </p><p>The familiar call of “balut!” mixes with the ambient noise from early afternoon to midnight. </p><p>Carrying a basket filled with the fertilized duck eggs and packs of chicharon and peanuts for the past 20 years, 45-yea- old Lilybeth Contado has been able to provide for and support her children’s education. Her eldest of seven, Angela, has already earned her Bachelor of Secondary Education degree. </p><div><strong>Transporting balut to Eastern Samar</strong></div><p>Unlike in Manila where balut is ubiquitous, the pulutan and midnight snack staple is harder to find in Borongan City, needing to be shipped from Manila to Tacloban, Leyte and then only to the Eastern Samar capital some 190 kilometers away. </p><div><strong>COVID-19 quarantine protocols</strong></div><p>Much like every business relying on transportation and shipping, Contado was hit hard by the pandemic. Balut must also be sold within 18 days lest it spoils. This, combined with the strict quarantine restrictions enforced at the time, forced Contado to join her husband Pedro in farming to make up for the P300 to P500 in daily earnings lost. </p><p>Even the suppliers in the area were severely affected. Sonia Cuna, a balut distributor, says she had to mortgage property and jewels just to cover her households daily expenses. </p><div><strong>Forming a cooperative</strong></div><p>Contado, along with six other women balut vendors in her neighborhood, are thinking of expanding their business to earn more income via a cooperative. </p><p>The women say they earn only about P5 per balut sold. A somewhat meager amount considering Contado travels some 40 minutes from Brgy. Maybocog, Maydolong to Borongan and another 3 hours to Can-avid. </p><p>She says she goes to Can-avid because there is hardly any competition there.</p><p>Contado says that while they are eager to form a cooperative, producing capital is a challenge but adds that they are currently looking for someone to support them. </p><div class="media-content"><div class="slider-for"><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/03/05/covid-balut-vendor-eastern-samar-ab-1.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/03/05/covid-balut-vendor-eastern-samar-ab-2.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/03/05/covid-balut-vendor-eastern-samar-ab-3.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/03/05/covid-balut-vendor-eastern-samar-ab-4.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/03/05/covid-balut-vendor-eastern-samar-ab-5.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/03/05/covid-balut-vendor-eastern-samar-ab-6.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/03/05/covid-balut-vendor-eastern-samar-ab-7.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/03/05/covid-balut-vendor-eastern-samar-ab-8.jpg"/></div></div></div><div class="slider-desc"><div class="item-desc"><p>Lilybeth Contado carries two trays of balut in to be boiled before selling them in Borongan and Can-avid town on March 4, 2022. <cite>Alren Beronio, ABS-CBN News</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Contado has a markup of only P5 per egg which earns her between P300 to P500 a day. <cite>Alren Beronio, ABS-CBN News</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Balut trader Sonia Cuna (left) does business with Lilybeth Contando in n Brgy. Maybocog, Eastern Samar. <cite>Alren Beronio, ABS-CBN News</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Contado prepares to boil the eggs before traveling and selling them in Borongan and Can-avid, some 40 minutes and three hours away respectively. <cite>Alren Beronio, ABS-CBN News</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Balut has a shelf life of 18 days before going bad. <cite>Alren Beronio, ABS-CBN News</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Lilybeth Contado rides a tricycle Brgy. Maybocog, Eastern Samar to sell balut in Borongan City, some 40 minutes away. <cite>Alren Beronio, ABS-CBN News</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Lilybeth Contado walks around Borongan City with a basket full of balut looking for customers. <cite>Alren Beronio, ABS-CBN News</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>Contando sells balut from the afternoon to midnight daily. <cite>Alren Beronio, ABS-CBN News</cite></p></div></div>

Walking around the city center and Baybay Boulevard in Borongan City, Eastern Samar while looking for potential customers, vendors shout the name of their product to get attention. 

Eastern Samar balut vendors make ends meet during pandemic

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Eastern Samar balut vendors make ends meet during pandemic

Photos and text by Alren Beronio,

ABS-CBN News

Published Mar 05, 2022 05:53 PM PHT

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Updated Mar 05, 2022 07:18 PM PHT

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coronavirus

COVID-19

balut

Eastern Samar

balut vendors

Lilybeth Contado

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