Mati City, Davao Oriental – Between gold and coco coir, a housewife here testifies the latter makes them eat, and sends her child to school.
Michelle Luguib, mother of 2 and a wife of a small-scale miner said her humble earning from weaving coco-twine has augmented the meager income of her husband from the mines.
Admittedly though, she said mining is still their main source of income but what supports most of their daily and basic needs and her child’s schooling is her own livelihood.
“With my own earning from our coco-twine production, my husband who stays in the mining site for two weeks or a month, does not have to worry anymore if we still have something to eat or we still support our daily needs,” Luguib said.
Coco-twine is made from winding together coco fibers, which are considered waste from coco peat production. Local traders here consolidate both coco peat and coco-twine for export market mostly in China.
While the Province of Davao Oriental is considered as the coconut capital of Mindanao, the local government here sees the crop as the “tree of money.”
Michael Sibbaluca, technical adviser to the City mayor said “coconut has been dubbed as the tree of life since from its roots to the tips of its leaves can be used to sustain life, but more than that, here in our city and in Davao Oriental we see it as an entire source of viable income that’s why we call it the “tree of money.”
Proving that there is more to coconut than copra, local businesses in the city and the province ventured into coco by-product processing during the slack of copra prices in 2006, which reached as low as P5.00 per kilo.
“We learned that there is a huge market for coco geo-textile or coco-twine mats so we seized this opportunity,” said Sibbaluca.
Today even small farmers who do not own vast coconut plantation benefit from the coco-product value adding.
“When coco twining (technology) was introduced to us, we were just using the makeshift twining machine made from those small and cheap China-made three-bladed electric fans with which we produce 20 - 40 hanks of coco-twine,” Luguib said.
Luckily she was a member of the Nagkahiusang Katilingban sa Bahandi sa Kinaiyahan (NAKABAKA), a people’s organization (PO) initially formed to rehabilitate the mangrove area in the coastal part of the city.
Sibbaluca said that when the city government was thinking of providing livelihood package as part of their task in the mangrove rehabilitation, NAKABAKA was endorsed to the Department of Agriculture’s Mindanao Rural development Program.
Under the program’s Community Fund for Agricultural Development, the coco-twine production plus fishing gear project were provided enough funds. The purchase of the proper twining machine dramatically increased their production.
Today they the women twiners can now produce at least 300 hanks per week which can be sold roughly at P4,500.00. One coco-twine measures 14 feet long and sells at P1.50.
To maintain their volume of production, the women consolidate their hanks to reach the volume requirement of at least 1000 tons. And from the original 15, the number of women twiners has now increased to 30.
“When our neighbors knew we were earning at least P20,000.00 in a week (consolidated income), many became interested and joined in. After the training and the necessary organizational dues we accepted them in since we need to keep with the volume of production,” Luguib said.
“(Coco) twining (which is just in their respective backyards) is very easy to do and fits well to our lifestyle. After our chores we can do twining, while chatting with our neighbors,” said Luguib, adding: “this is really the opposite of what we used to do when we did not have this project before, we just idle and chat most of the day, very unproductive.”
So easy is coco-twining that even their children were able to help.
“On their free time, special last summer, our children also helped in twining. Since it’s not really hard labor we teach them to twine by themselves,” Luguib said.
As a result of a productive summer they did not worry about buying school supplies and enrolment fee.
“In fact, with what we earned we were able to buy cellular phones for our children and provide them daily allowance,” Luguib proudly said. (Sherwin B. Manual/DAMRDP)
DILG to LGUs: Allocate 1% of your IRA for local councils for children
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse M. Robredo is urging all local chief executives to put children’s concerns on top of their agenda by allocating one percent (1%) of their Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) for programs and projects of the local councils for the protection of children (LCPC) pursuant to Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.
Citing Section 15 of RA 9344, Robredo said the law does not only mandate local government units (LGUs) to establish their LCPCs at the city, municipal and barangay levels, but calls on them to allocate 1% of their IRA for the strengthening and implementation of programs, projects and activities of LCPCs as well.
RD Francisco C. Jose likewise added “while this (1% IRA allocation) is required under the law, it is incumbent upon our LGUs to continuously promote and protect the rights and welfare of the young members of our society by supporting the LCPCs”.
The LCPC is an institutional mechanism in all levels of LGUs that advocates rights, plans and initiates/recommends interventions and monitors children’s programs and projects in the locality.
Projects and activities that can be funded by the 1% IRA for LCPCs are the following: preparation of the Local Development Plan for Children, Local Investment Plan for Children, Local Code for Children and Local State of Children’s Report; assistance to children in need of special protection; development of advocacy materials on children; installation of a local information system on children’s situation; documentation of good practices on children; and monitoring of the enforcement of national and local laws on children by LGUs, among others.
DILG points out that local governments may even increase allocation for LCPCs beyond the 1% requirement of the law to ensure that all plans for children are provided with funds and implemented. Further, the Department encourages LGUs to outsource funds or to engage in partnership with private and civil society organizations that provide financial assistance for the implementation of LCPC programs, projects and activities.
The LCPC activities may also be charged against the 20% development fund of the LGUs as mandated by Section 287 of the Local Government Code, particularly in the realization of the goals for social development of the community.###
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