By EDGAR J. TAMAYO
In a bid to help lick endemic poverty in Southern Philippines, a Manilabased non-government organization is putting up three processing centers worth 6.5 million in General Santos City, Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga to provide employment opportunities to millions of jobless Filipinos both in Mindanao and Visayas regions.
This was disclosed by businessman Shariff Ibrahim H. Albani, chairman of the board of the Unity for Revival Foundation, Incorporated , the project proponent, who said the centers will be for the processing of avalone, seaweed and coconuts.
The seaweed processing center with base in Zamboanga City, will operate on a $ 2.5 million capital outlay, while the avalone processing center in Tawi-Tawi is alloted a $ 4 million budget.
Albani said the avalone centers in Tawi-Tawi and in 11 other islands in the Sulu archipelago with a projected workforce of about 1,200 employees, can produce sufficient volume of exportable avalone worth millions of dollars every year.
On the other hand, the coconut processing project will have the General Santos Integrated Processing Center as its pilot endeavor, with 11 other procressing centers spread throughout Mindanao and one in Camalig, Albay in the Bicol Region.
The 12 coconut processing centers, with a project cost of $ 10 million each for a total of $ 120 million, will be situated on a 12,000-hectare contiguous coconut area per center and were able to meet all the criteria set by the Vercide Engineering Works, Inc. who conducted the feasibility studies.
These are in Zamboanga City; Bongao, Tawi-Tawi; Tanjong, Jolo, Sulu; Isabela, Basilan; General Santos City; Cotabato City; Maasin, Saranggani; Malabang, Lanao del Sur; Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur; Siraway, Zamboanga del Norte; Sultan Kudarat and Camalig, Albay.
Albani said however, that the projects, to be funded from the foundation’s overseas accounts, can only be effectively implemented if government leaders were "united in confronting the poverty problem. About three million jobs will be generated by the coconut processing centers to help the government’s job creation and poverty alleviation programs, he added.
"Poverty can be licked as long as the nation’s leaders are united, like in the case of Singapore, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Brunei who are now economically progressive due to the unity of its leaders and people," Albani stressed.
He added that fratricidal fighting in Mindanao must now stop in lieu of economic development, "since in war, there are no victors, but only losers." He urged all sectors to end fighting in Mindanao if the country has to restore its glory and lost prestige of a great coutry.
|
