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CM-Govern 20 May 2008 |
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MORE than a week ago, I
visited the country’s City of Smiles — Bacolod City. When I arrived at
the New Bacolod Silay Airport, I was so taken
by the warmth and hospitality, and of course, the charming smiles of the
Bacolenos. I owed that trip to Deputy Spokesman and Undersecretary Anthony Golez, a proud Bacoleno himself, who arranged my dialogue with the Citizens’ Movement for Good Governance, Inc. or CM-Govern, a non-government organization composed of about 10,000 members in 61 barangays of Bacolod City. Actually, it was an invitation I could not refuse, because dialogues with groups like CMGovern serve as an opportunity for me to share the government’s priority program — the development of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME). As the designated Oversight Official for MSME, it is part of my job to promote and report the latest updates on microfinance, particularly in the areas of job generation and economic empowerment through entrepreneurship. I was invited to inspire the CM-Govern members with the accomplishments of our MSME projects, but with the high level of energy and motivation exuded by the CM-Govern members, I was the one swept and inspired. In fact, I ended up scrapping my prepared speech and mixing it up with them in English, Filipino, part Cebuano, and a smattering of Ilonggo. The "Bulig Mo, Kabuhian Ko" project of CM-Govern is a consolidation of the existing microenterprise projects run by CM-Govern members for the past three years. Since its inception, CM-Govern has been providing seed capital to its member-beneficiaries, who are mostly poor, to help them generate income to cover their daily sustenance and to have some extra earnings to grow their business. Over time, however, the limited financial capability of CM-Govern has constrained its reach, thus they now seek access to the wide range of existing MSME projects of this administration. The ongoing projects of CM-Govern are the Trisikad Rent-to-own, Dried Fish Processing, Rice Farming, Grocery Stores, Swine Fattening, Duck Raising, Native Chicken Production, Figurines Manufacturing, and Sandals and Shoe Making. With us in the dialogue was a representative from the People’s Credit and Finance Corporation (PCFC), the government’s principal arm for wholesale lending to Micro Finance Institutions. Already, negotiations are under way between the CM-Govern officials and PCFC, through its Vice President, Atty. Noel Posas, to eventually qualify and accredit CM-Govern as government’s "partner or client" on microfinance. CM-Govern has adopted the Grameen concept of 2006 Nobel Laureate Dr. Mohammad Yunus. The concept he preaches is simple — credit is a basic human right — give the poor credit, even a small one, and they will work out how best to use it to break the shackles of poverty. Don’t try to just tell people how to overcome their penury, he counsels. Instead, he said, give them the opportunity to bring out their innate entrepreneurial skill to shape their own destiny. This concept worked well in Bangladesh, its country of origin. It has been working just as well, in its many variations, here in our country. In the 2001 State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, she promised that "we will make microfinance a cornerstone in our fight against poverty." Seven years after that SONA, the fight against poverty in Bacolod is well under way. And with groups like CM-Govern, we expect to win this fight. |
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