Palawan Governor Jose Alvarez (right) and Landbank CEO Alex Buenaventura in a meeting at the Provincial Capitol on Tuesday (February 13, 2018). (Photo courtesy of the Provincial Information Office)
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan -- The Palawan government showcased its poverty reduction to Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) executives in a bid to elicit its funding support.
Provincial Information Officer Gil Acosta Jr. said in a press statement Friday that the meeting between Governor Jose Alvarez and Landbank chief executive officer Alex Buenaventura happened on February 13 at the Capitol Building.
“Layon ng naturang pagpupulong na makuha ang suporta ng naturang bangko sa mga programang pangkabuhayan na ipapatupad ng pamahalaang panlalawigan para mabawasan ang kahirap sa Palawan (The meeting aims to get the support of the bank for the livelihood projects of the provincial government that are meant to reduce poverty in Palawan),” his statement said.
These priority poverty reduction projects under the Direct Poverty Alleviation Program (DPAP) are livestock raising and planting of hybrid Napier grass as feeds for them and water supply development projects.
Napier grass is a fodder grass that produces a lot of high-protein forage. It is also known as “elephant grass,” “Sudan grass” or “king grass”.
The beneficiaries will be mostly indigenous peoples (IP) as they have been found out to be the biggest contributors to Palawan’s poverty incidence rate.
In the statement, Nimfa Rubio of the Provincial Planning and Development Office, was quoted that currently, the provincial government is surveying 62,178 households in 112 barangays relating to IP profiling.
These barangays are located in the southern Palawan towns of Brooke’s Point, Bataraza, Rizal, Quezon, Sofronio Española, Narra, and Aborlan.
Once profiling has been completed, Rubio said the provincial government will begin the implementation of the livestock livelihood project for them in a bid to help improve their lives.
“Mahalagaang pagkakaroon ng maayos at tamang pagtukoy ng mga pangangailangan ng mamamayan at ang pagpapatupad ng angkop na proyekto para sa kanila (It is important to have proper knowledge of what particularly projects should be given to them that will suit their profile),” she added.
After their meeting in the city, Acosta said the governor and the Landbank CEO went to Bataraza town to meet the peoples’ organizations that had been created for the purpose.
“Landbank can be assured that these projects and programs will have good results under the leadership of our governor,” he said. (PNA)
