DavSur guv vows support to rural women

DIGOS CITY, Davao del Sur, Dec. 22 (PIA) – Governor Claude Bautista has vowed full support to women organizations in rural areas in the province, as he aimed at strengthening agricultural programs to ensure food security in Davao del Sur.

Bautista made the commitment during a recent gathering of close to a thousand women leaders of the Rural Improvement Clubs coming from Digos City and from the 14 municipalities of the province.

The governor underscored the important role and contribution of rural women in improving the agriculture sector, saying that women have been partners of their husbands in tending the farms.

“The provincial government is always ready to give assistance to women. This is the only power I have to give to develop the communities,” Bautista stated during the Provincial RIC Achievement Day and Christmas Festival 2014.

He said the first project that he will provide for the RIC Federation next year is a P5 million worth of multi-purpose building to be used by all RIC groups in the province.

A vehicle service has also been planned to be given to the women’s group, Bautista announced during the women’s gathering that bannered the theme: “RIC: Kaabag sa Agrikultura ug Turismo (RIC: A Partner in Agriculture and Tourism).”

He challenged the women leaders to look for more livelihood projects that could help increase their income and augment their household expenses.
With this challenge, the governor promised to allocate P300,000 budget for the RIC groups per city/municipality to finance their livelihood projects in 2015.
He urged the women leaders to craft and submit viable project proposals to be funded by the provincial government.

“Your success is the success of the province. Together we work hand in hand to give you good life, and to improve our agriculture sector so we have something to be proud of in the province,” Bautista told the women leaders.

He hoped that the celebration next year would showcase various agricultural products from different municipalities.

The agriculture sector continues to be one of the priorities of the governor in 2015, with a budget allocation of no less than P30 million.
Another main program of the governor is the education concern where he raised the budget from P25 million to P40 million for the scholarship program next year.

He assured that ten scholars will be coming from each city/municipality in Davao del Sur. (PIA-11/Carina L. Cayon)