Article by:
Annabel Consuelo Petinglay
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – Forty-six women in the upland barangay of Cabladan in the municipality of Sibalom this province on Thursday each received an electric sewing machine for their livelihood under the whole-of-the-nation approach in ending local communist armed conflict program.
“The sewing machines are given after your training by the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) so that each of you will have something to use already,” said Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao, who led the turnover of the sewing machines worth PHP1 million to the women in Barangay Cabladan.
The women-beneficiaries were recipients of skills training on dressmaking last year.
The governor has directed the PSWDO to look into the needs of the people in Barangay Cabladan, whose problem on insurgency has always been part of their discussions at the Provincial Task Force to End Local Communists Armed Conflict (ELCAC) and the Western Visayas Regional Development Council (RDC), with her as the chairperson.
One of the concerns raised was the lack of employment opportunities.
“Since you had already been trained on dressmaking and have your own sewing machine, I do hope that you would be resourceful in terms of marketing your products,” the governor added.
Sibalom Municipal Councilor Kazy Butiong, who represented Mayor Gian Carlo Occeña, expressed hope the beneficiaries will take care of the sewing machines given to them by the provincial government.
“Please make full use of the sewing machines for your livelihood,” she said.
One of the beneficiaries Jo-ann Abagon said they not only plan to sew dresses, pillowcases, and bedsheets, which they hope to also sell online.
She said they will come up with a marketing scheme so they could sell their products in bulk.
“Since we still do not have a production center, we will be sewing only in our homes,” she said in an interview.
The 46 sewing machines were in addition to the eight sewing machines from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and two from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) given to the 10 other trainees last year.
Abagon said that women in their barangay used to help their husbands in farmwork or growing flowers that they sell at the Sibalom public market, which is about 30 kilometers away from their village.
Cabladan is one of the two barangays in Antique that have been identified as recipients of convergence projects under the whole-of-nation approach to address local insurgency.
The other one is Barangay Bulan Bulan in the municipality of San Remigio. (PNA)
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