One of Puerto Princesa LGBTQ icons Emmanuel Jagmis got a shot of fame early this year, after his supposed to be personal Facebook post of him buying a car and crediting it to his long time business of making and selling ice drop.
Jagmis went viral and was featured by different pages online, shared and almost reached 2 million with thousands of comments as of this writing.
Emmanuel famously known as Maning or Inang Louella started selling his own creation of ice drop way back 30 years ago. Through this, little-by-little, he was able to put up a small sari-sari store, internet cafe and a chain of for rent apartments in their own residential area in Brgy. Milagrosa. At present he has 18 apartment units.
But it was his bestselling ice drop that started it all. From then, he thought big and slowly achieved some of his personal dreams like travelling abroad, and of course buying a personal car that he can drive around whenever he wanted to go somewhere in the province.
“Aksidente lang na makagawa ako ng ganyang formula. Nung una, sikat na brand yung ginawa ko hindi sya naging patok. Tapos somebody told me na bumili ng cocoa, pagkatapos lagyan mo ng ganito, ng ganun. So from there, nag-click sya hanggang sa naging mabentang-mabenta na sya sa mga bata. From there, since ang laki ng kita, tinuloy-tuloy ko na sya hanggang ngayon,” Jagmis said.
It’s a small investment that comes with passion is the main ingredient of his ice drop business that is solely available only at his own store from then till now.
“Ang ice drop ay maiko-kumpara sa negosyong tubong lugaw. Ganun na ganun siya bibili ka lang ng cocoa powder na magkano lang ang puhunan mo. Let say nasa P130 ang laki laki na nun. Bibili ka ng cream na nasa P80 at fresh milk na nasa P120, kung sumahin mo nasa P500 lang ang puhunan mo. Pag ginawa mo siya mapapalabas mo siya ng P5,000, as in tubong lugaw lang maliban sa kuryente na maliit din lang naman,” Jagmis shared.
Being viral online and inspiration to many netizen is something Inang didn’t plan, but he is happy to share whatever he can to help others also succeed in their life.
“Katuwaan ko lang to, ang naisip ko lang ay magkaroon ng parang file. Minsan kasi pag may maisipan ako na balikan eh madali ko ma check. In my wildest dream, hindi ko inisip na aabot to sa kung saan saang lugar, andami nagmi-message sa akin from Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao na puede mo kaming turuan ng ganito, na gusto namin marating yung narating mo sa buhay,” Jagmis added.
Being an inspiration or idol to many now, Jagmis want to convey a message that there are many things in life that take time before goals are achieved. It would test once patience and focus in life. He knows that having this kind of small business didn’t happen overnight to become big time. Determination to succeed is what important that in spite of facing challenges in life.
“Ang mga bagay pala na akala mo maliit lang, pero pag iyo pala syang pinahalagahan isa pala sya sa magiging hagdanan mo sa tagumpay mo sa buhay. Mahalin lang ang trabaho, mahalin kung saan ka masaya sa ginagawa mo, yun ang maghahatid sa iyo sa tagumpay,” Jagmis said in closing.
