Tabaco City MDG-FACES brightens prospect for poor communities

By Marlon A. Loterte

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 12 (PIA) --The local government of Tabaco City projects a whole package of anti-poverty interventions through the Millennium Development Goals- Family Action Based for Children in their Environs of the Slums or MDG-FACES focusing on this pilot barangay seen with a great success for replication.

Tabaco City, according to Luistro, is the only local government unit in Bicol region granted with the 2012 Millennium Development Goals- Family Action Based for Children in their Environs of the Slums (MDG-FACES),

MDG-FACES, a joint program of the city government with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), addresses anti-poverty issues of selected pilot barangay with a minimum financial grant of P300,000.00 as initial capital for a demo project of its choice.

Mayor Cielo Krisel Lagman-Luistro said that the city government revitalizes the sea-weed noodle production and processed sea products as entrepreneurial initiatives to augment income of beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, a multi-sectoral City Core Team formed through an executive order of the chief executive is headed by Councilor Sheina Marie C. Onrubia as focal person.

Onrubia cited that Department of Trade and Industries (DTI) provincial office here has provided capacity trainings on simple bookkeeping and maintaining books , while the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), through its Nego-Kart project, also offered four carts for product display.

She said that the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) has also initiated values re-orientation and family development session and seminar on food safety and good manufacturing practices to assist the women on their business.

Philhealth cards were distributed to new members; six couples are assisted to legalize their bonds through mass wedding set this month and children beneficiaries received the basic health services in cooperation with the City Health Unit.

“Truly, Tabaco City is putting vibrant color to the face of a Tabaqueno child,” Luistro concluded. (MAL/RKallos/FMGM-LGU Tabaco City/PIA5)