DAVAO CITY – Civic organizations chipped in their professional talents to infuse basic literacy for community organizations in former guerrilla-influenced villages here.
Five organizations: professional, civic, cooperative, barangay office, and department of a local government unit joined forces to conduct seminars aimed at improving the financial literacy of a people’s organization identified within the Davao City Peace 911 initiative, the city chapter of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) said.
The Peace 911 is the city government initiative to bring government services and develop the remote northern and western villages of the city which have been plagued with insurgency. An Advisory Committee on Peace and Development of the City Mayor’s Office was formed in 2018.
The team conducted a basic financial literacy webinar and a basic bookkeeping seminar in Barangay Megkawayan, Calinan District on October 23 and December 11, respectively.
The team tapped the dean of the College of Accounting of the University of Mindanao, Lord Eddie Aguilar, who himself was a past president of PICPA Davao Chapter and currently also a member of The Rotary Club of East Davao (RCED),
The recipient of the two training was the Megkawayan Women’s Association.
Aguilar said the focus of the financial literacy discussion “is on personal budgeting.”
“This will help the participants in knowing their current financial status and what to do to augment it. The webinar provides practical steps on how to do personal budgeting in augmenting their financial needs,” he said.
On the bookkeeping webinar, he said “this will help small business owners in the community like sari-sari store to understand the importance of record keeping in analyzing whether the business is earning or not”.
“The workshop allows the participant to make a simple income statement at the end,” he added.
He said the seminar and workshop “recognized the participants’ need to enhance their skills in knowing their financial status and make a plan like establish a small business, likely home-based, to augment their family income.”
The president of the women’s association, Julita Olden, expressed gratitude to being chosen to undergo the literacy sessions. “We are very fortunate as it could have been any of the people’s organization of the 180 barangays of Davao City.
Rossano C. Luga, PICPA Davao president said they were joined by Cheldone I. Canes, RCED president,
Jasjer G. Gelacio, chairman of Income Credit Cooperative, Joseph Patrick O. Escovilla, barangay chairman of Megkawayan Barangay Office, and Mary Aileen T. Mabanding, department head of Davao City Peace 911.
Mabanding said the city government’s focus programs of the Peace 911 “are aimed at strengthening the people’s organizations, hence, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and Catholic Archbishop Bishop Romulo Valle, who are both members of the Peace 911 Council, are extremely pleased with the support given by the collaborating organizations.