She lost her parents when she was 17, and being the eldest, she took over the care of her siblings. Their mother died after giving birth to her youngest sibling, while their father was stabbed to death a year later.

"I was orphaned at 17. And being the eldest of nine children, I also became a parent to my siblings," said Tess de Guzman, a bibingka (rice cake) and puto bumbong (sticky purple rice cake) vendor outside a church in Pateros, Metro Manila.

De Guzman, now 49 years old, said she did all kinds of jobs to survive — including washing and ironing clothes and other odd jobs.

A resident of Barangay Sta. Ana (Kaliwa) in Pateros, De Guzman said she started selling bibingka and puto bumbong when she was nine.

Selling the traditional delicacies was a family tradition handed down by her grandparents.

Bibingka is a traditional rice cake made of ground glutinous rice or "malagkit" poured into a clay pan lined with banana leaves and baked between two layers of charcoal. It is then topped with margarine, salted egg, cheese, white sugar, and shredded coconut.

On the other hand, puto bumbong is made of ground glutinous purple rice cooked in bamboo and typically served on a banana leaf. It is topped with margarine, shredded coconut, grated cheese, and muscovado sugar.

"I just learned it [the processes] from my grandparents. At a young age, I helped them sell bibingka and puto bumbong," De Guzman said.

She said they had a food stall near a hardware store owned by a Chinese trader. The hardware store is now a drug store.

"We had a stall at the corner of the drug store that used to be a hardware before," she said.

De Guzman is now a widow with eight children. The children help her sell the bibingka and puto bumbong.

"The tradition is being passed down to my children," she said, adding that selling the delicacies is a big help to her family.

"It's a big help for our everyday needs." It has helped see some of her children through college, and they are now gainfully employed.

These Christmas treats are popular during the holiday season and are sold outside churches during Simbang Gabi.

"When it's not Christmas, I sell kikiam, fish balls, and other street food," De Guzman said, adding that she accepts orders for bibingka and puto bumbong for all occasions.

Asked what makes her bibingka and puto bumbong different, she replied: "Syempre masarap tinda ko 'to eh (Of course, it's delicious)!"

She said there were no secret ingredients, just her grandparents' original recipe.

De Guzman added that charcoal-grilled bibingka tastes better than oven-baked.

"It's delicious if it's cooked the traditional way. Another thing is, we must use glutinous rice instead of flour," she added.

De Guzman sells her bibingka for P80 each, regular puto bumbong for P70 and special puto bumbong (with lots of shredded cheese and condensed milk) for P90. She earns P4,000 every night.

She advises those who want to get into this business: "You need to be patient because it's quite laborious. It's nothing if you aren't diligent."