Monday, May 9, 2011

Self-reliance for good governance, PNoy says

ALABEL, Sarangani (April 15, 2011) – President Benigno Aquino III has reiterated his advocacy for innovative livelihood and self-reliance as key factors for development especially in Mindanao.

President Aquino graced the turn-over ceremony of a banana chips processing facility for a women’s association in barangay Baluntay Thursday (April 14).

Baluntay Women’s Association (BAWA) is a USAID-GEM (United States Agency for International Development - Growth with Equity in Mindanao) and UNDP assisted project supervised by the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA).

“The turn-over of the banana chips facility is a success not only in Sarangani and its partner agencies, but a success for the Filipino, to show the success of reaping the fruit of what you sow,” President Aquino said. “The United States Agency for International Development – Growth with Equity for Mindanao has been a valuable partner to this development.”

“We don’t want to take our chances. We are trying to reform our government processes so that we can build opportunities for change,” President Aquino said. “We are working on this so that we will progress by giving equal opportunity for all.”

“It’s time that we give Mindanao communities a chance to grow and be strong. It’s time to give our women sector the opportunities by doing all means to give them a lasting solution to their problems.”

“Many of you are wives of former Moro National Liberation Front’s (MNLF) combatants. I hope you will be an example of development that denounces violence,” President Aquino said.

Sarangani has 50 Peace and Development Communities (PDCs), 18 of which are UNDP assisted and the 32 are funded by the provincial government.

BAWA is composed of Muslim, Lumad and Christian with 150 members who are wives and daughters of former MNLF combatants.

Before, they were hampered by the lack of a main facility to process and package the banana chips in a controlled and hygienic environment.

“We would cook the chips in individual member’s house or backyard,” association president Helen Materdan said.

Last year, BAWA requested USAID’s GEM Program and the United Nations Development Program’s ACT for Peace to provide them a small building.

The Philippines is the third largest exporter of bananas in the world and the only Asian country in the top five.

In 2009, the country was able to export 1.664 million metric tons of Cavendish bananas worth more than USD344.

BAWA makes 12,500 kilos of banana chips every year that earns more than P300,000. When the facility opens, the production could reach up to 50,000 kilos every year, earning P1.4-M for the association. (Russtum G. Pelima/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

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