One of Cebu's poorest towns focuses on creating livelihood

CEBU, Philippines - After named as among the top three poor municipalities in Cebu province last year, Alegria Mayor Verna Magallon dedicated the first six months of her administration to improving the livelihood of residents in the town.

In her state of the municipality address (SOMA), Magallon said her administration is always in the lookout for new ways to improve livelihood in the town through public-private partnerships.

"Addressing widespread poverty in our municipality lies at the heart of my platform and I have given my whole-hearted support to our joint work in communities with NGOs and national government agencies," she said.

The Saint Peter Academy of Alegria Foundation Inc. (SPAAFI) headed by the mayor's husband, Dr. Gilbert Magallon, serves as partner of the Municipal Agriculture Office in embarking on systematizing varioust interventions such as  integrated organic farming, organic livestock, bee-culture, and other new technologies.

The Agriculture Technology Institute has also considered the town's demo-farm as a center for certification for organic products.

Alegria is the only municipality in Cebu to have received this recognition, Magallon said.

The municipality received from the Provincial Agriculture Office 56 hybrid goats distributed to 12 farmers together with those distributed by SPAAFI which include 88 hybrid cattle, 21 carabaos; 1,784 hybrid goats, 31 modules of Korean swine-farming, 50 sets of organic chicken, and vertical gardening assistance to 60 farmers.

Magallon said their livelihood program includes providing job opportunities especially for the out-of-school youth through tie-ups with manpower agencies, TESDA and other contacts.

Community based tourism has also provided opportunities for livelihood generation in terms of guides, caterers, motorcycle drivers.

Magallon said that the tourism office and its three consultants have helped them inspect and assess the different destination sites in Alegria and are now working with the people's organizations and barangays to develop tour packages for these sites.

The Batong Malunhaw Municipal Resort has been rehabilitated and enhanced and is now attracting a lot of tourists.

The National Statistical Coordination Board released last June 2013 the 2006 to 2009 city and municipal-level poverty estimates which showed Alegria together with the towns of San Francisco and Ginatilan on top of the poor municipalities of the province. — (FREEMAN)