Villar SIPAG Awards Community with focus on Poverty Reduction

Villar SIPAG (Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance) recently announced the 10 Most Outstanding Community Enterprises and 10 Most Promising Community Enterprises chosen from among the almost 200 entries received nationwide. 

The Villar SIPAG Awards for Poverty Reduction, a nationwide search, was launched August last year to recognize the exemplary achievements of community enterprises that resulted to local economic development and improvement of lives.

Awarded as the 10 Most Outstanding Community Enterprises are:

Andres M. Soriano Employees  Fresh Fruits Cooperative, Baclaran Vendors Development Cooperative, Baclaran Parañaque;  Bukluran Multi Purpose Cooperative, Dasmariñas, Cavite; Kalasag Farmers Producers Cooperative, San Jose City, Nueva Ecija; Malapatan Multi Purpose Cooperative, Malapatan, Sarangani; Nueva Segovia Consortium Cooperative, Caoayan, Ilocos Sur; Paglaum Multi Purpose Cooperative, Misamis, Occidental; People’s Alliance for Progress Multi Purpose Cooperative,  Panamao, Sulu; San Francisco Associations of Differently-Abled Person Multi Purpose Cooperative San Francisco, Agusan Del Sur; and San Joaquin Multi Purpose Cooperative, Sarat, Ilocos Norte.

Named as the 10 Most Promising Community Enterprises are:

Catmon Multipurpose Cooperative in Catmon, Sta. Maria, Bulacan; Davao Ventures Employees Cooperative, Calinan, Davao City; Danlugan Farmers Multi Purpose Cooperative, Danlugan, Pagadian City; Davao Oriental Coco Husk Social Enterprises, Inc., San Isidro, Davao Oriental; Ipil Market Vendors Multi Purpose Cooperative, Ipil, Zambaonga Sigubay; Light House Cooperative; Paco Soriano Pandacan Development Cooperative, Paco, Manila; People’s Officials, Employees and Community Multi Purpose Cooperative, Polanco, Zamboanga del Norte; Southern Iloilo Area Multipurpose Cooperative in Oton, Iloilo and Valenzuela Development Cooperative in Valenzuela City, Metro Manila.

With social responsibility as its guiding principle, Villar SIPAG founding chairman, former Senate President Manny Villar said it has initiated, implemented and supported various projects to improve the quality of life of people in the communities where they live.

A cash reward of P250,000 was given to each of the winner in the Most  Outstanding Community Enterprises  while P100,000 cash to each of the winner in the Most Promising Community Enterprises.

But as Senator Cynthia Villar cited in her speech during the awarding ceremony: “Goodness is its own reward. The virtues of hard work and persistence are its own rewards.” She urged the winners to continue to persevere and improve their lives and those of the people around them.

The lady senator herself has established over 300 community enterprises all over the country. These are an offshoot of her green social enterprises on water hyacinth weaving, coconet weaving, organic fertilizer making, charcoal making, citronella oil making, handmade paper making, and waste plastics recycling.

Villar, who is also known as ‘Misis Hanepbuhay’, shared that she and her husband values the virtues of hard word (sipag) and perseverance (tiyaga). Their success story has inspired and continue to inspire many Filipinos. 

“I am glad that we have inspired many individuals and groups of people with our own stories of hard work and persistence. The more people who will work towards the goal of providing livelihood and jobs to the people, the faster we can realize our collective goal of lifting our fellow Filipinos out of poverty,” she cited.

The criteria for selecting the winners for each other category are effectiveness, significance, financial viability, sustainability and adaptability. 

For effectiveness, a community enterprise should have tangible results like increase in household income and creation of jobs. On its significance, it should have addressed the problem of income poverty in a community.

Regarding the financial viability, it should have generated its own income sufficient enough to meet its core operating expenses and financial obligations to invest in its future growth and development.

On sustainability, it can continue to operate in the long term while on adaptability,  the initiatives of community enterprise have been successfully adapted by others.

Aside from the criteria set in the selection process, a team of validators headed by Prof. Edel Guiza of Asian institute of Management (AIM) conducted series of screenings, site validations and interviews for the past four months.

Among the questions asked in interviews delved in the management of the business, creation of jobs in the community, and the increase in the household income of its members.

The community enterprises which competed for the awards were nominated by their respective local government units. Some of them directly applied to join the competition.

Entries came from the National Capital Region, Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon and the Visayas and Mindanao regions.