P60M worth of projects up for Mindanao island

THE Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) had implemented around P60 million worth of projects for the year in Mindanao, an executive of PBSP said.

During the recent PBSP Mindanao Membership meeting, PBSP Mindanao Regional Executive Committee Chair Miguel Rene Dominguez said they had implemented different projects covering education, health, and livelihood for the people of Mindanao.

Out of the P60 million worth of projects implemented for the island, about P56 million was granted by international government agencies while the rest of the amount was contributions made by different business sectors amounting to more or less P3 million.

As presented by Dominguez, for their health sector, more than 8,000 women of reproductive age (WRA) were given information and services on Maternal Child Newborn Health & Nutrition.

Also, 420 individuals were given access to potable water while 2 hectares of land was reforested.

The DRRM planning of about 26 barangays were also assisted and enhanced. For the education sector, 369 high school students were given career orientation while about 1,161 elementary students were provided with educational assistance.

A total of 117 classrooms were also built in Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Caraga, Soccsksargen, northern parts of Mindanao, Davao City, and Siargao.

“These are not easy places to build in but we are very proud to say that we are able to successfully construct these and are now being utilized by more than 5,200 children with more conducive and resilient learning spaces,” he said.

For this year, 1,066 households in Mindanao were engaged in livelihood with 41 persons with disabilities given training on employable skills. Out of this number, 22 are currently matched with employment and are now employed.

“These are development indicators that PBSP can help guide the member companies and craft direction for their development endeavors. And this is how we want our memberfoundations to be actively involved in creating synergy and leverage on our other partners’ plans, programs in their respective communities,” Dominguez said.

The projects implemented by PBSP for this year were made possible with the partnerships with Intellicare, Citibank, PLDT, Australian Aid, Coca Cola, ICTSI, and the Generics Pharmacy among others.