15 Cebu LGUs in Robredo’s anti-poverty program

CEBU, Philippines - At least 15 local government units in Cebu province have been identified as pilot areas for Vice President Leni Robredo’s anti-poverty flagship program, Angat Buhay.

These are Bantayan, Daanbantayan, Bogo City, San Remigio, Tabuelan, Tuburan, Danao City, San Francisco in Camotes Island, Manduae City for northern Cebu, and the cities of Talisay, Naga, and Carcar, towns of Barili, Argao and Dalaguete for southern Cebu.

Florentino Nimor, acting chief of the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO), said the province will pre-launch the program today at Montebello Villa Hotel in Barangay Banilad, Cebu City.

Nimor said Robredo could not attend today’s activity but is set to grace the official launching in Cebu within this month.

Launched in October, Angat Buhay is the OVP’s flagship program which seeks to facilitate partnerships between local government units and different stakeholders to address specific poverty-related problems.

The 50 other project sites of Angat Buhay are in Compostela Valley, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Dagupan City, and Zamboanga City, among others.

Under the Angat Buhay program, an initial 50 local government units will be partnered with non-government organizations (NGOs) and private corporations that can help them fund projects such as for housing, infrastructure, education, livelihood and disaster management, among others.

Nimor said at least 50 private corporations, including mother civic organizations, throughout the province, are supporting the Angat Buhay Program in its effort to uplift the lives of the poor, particularly children and senior citizens, in various rural areas here in Cebu.

These private corporations committed their funds in a bid to touch the lives of the people mostly in impoverished parts of the province as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Nimor said that the Angat Buhay projects include training and support for Cebu farmers, livelihood training for womenfolk, projects to enhance the capabilities of the city’s rescue center, and more feeding projects for malnourished school children in all barangays.

The program, he said, will supplement Governor Hilario Davide III’s six-key development agenda, including health and social services, countryside development and education.

Citing the report of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas, Nimor said Cebu province has 48-percent poverty incidence rate.

He believes that the program will help combat poverty in the province.

Robredo earlier said poverty causes the rise in the number of maternal deaths due to poor access to proper health care and this leads to irreversible stunting of growth in the first 1,000 days of many Filipino children.

“It has pushed our people, young and old, to take or sell drugs and commit all forms of crime. It disempowers and erodes the dignity of the majority of our people, especially in the remote rural areas and the congested urban informal settlements. Poverty has also caused many women to be disenfranchised and more small farmers, fisherfolk and laborers — the country’s food producers — to go hungry and suffer from malnutrition,” Robredo said.  (FREEMAN)