Sustain community programs, Villar urged NGOs

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

 

Senator Cynthia Aguilar Villar challenged the non-government organizations (NGOs) in the country to “sustain their programs for long-lasting growth and development.” 

 Villar was the keynote speaker of the 2014 Strategic Convergence of NGOs for Countryside Growth at Aklan State University in Banga, Aklan under the auspices of Ben Hur Z. Mobo Move Aklan Forward Foundation, Inc. (BHZMMAFFI) on Monday morning. 

“Malapit sa loob ko ang mga NGOs, mga cooperatives at iba pang organisasyon na tumutulong para maiahon natin ang ating mga kababayan sa kahirapan,” she said.

Villar, chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, said “the gathering of leaders of NGOs from various parts of the country focuses on the growing importance, and the increasing significance and crucial role the NGOs play in national development, particularly in countryside growth.” 

The senator stressed the convergence of NGOs in Aklan is a perfect venue to discuss and to come up with approaches and strategies.

Senator Cynthia Villar, also the managing director of Villar Foundation (now called Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance or Villar SIPAG), said they are providing training and alternative means of livelihood for families across the country.

The foundation, according to Villar, targets to set up one livelihood project in each of the 1,600 municipalities and cities in the Philippines. 

To date, the foundation has put up nearly 500 livelihood projects nationwide.

“Dapat tuloy tuloy ang ating mga NGOs sa kanyang mga proyekto, not instant success or short term gains but lasting growth and development,” she stressed.  

In 2002, Villar launched the Sagip Ilog project to rehabilitate the Las Pinas-Zapote river system. She also initiated related social enterprises in the production of coco nets and coco peat and the weaving of baskets from water lilies. 

Also in attendance during the NGOs convergence were foundation chairman Juan Dayang, Aklan Vice Governor Gabrielle Calizo-Quimpo, Sangguniang Panlalawigan members Plaridel Morana and Harry Sucgang, Banga town mayor Erlinda Maming, BHZMMAFFI Executive Director Rebecca Mobo and Aklan Rep. Teodorico Haresco, Jr.

Among the topics discussed were Agriculture, Food Security and NGOs by Aklan State University president Dr. Danilo Abayon; The Potentials of NGOs by Caloocan University president Dr. Cesar Chavez; NGOs struggle for political and social reform by former Bayan Muna Partylist Rep. Teodoro Casino.

Other topics were ASEAN Integration and the NGOs by Northwestern Visayan Colleges president Atty. Allen Quimpo and Social Entrepreneurship for NGO/PO Business Partnership by Jay Lacsamana, executive director of Foundation for Sustainable Society, Inc.