Saturday, September 08, 2007 Mapiles: Empowering families & communities By Joel P. Mapiles Soft Touch & Views
THE maxim that goes, ”behind every man’s success is a woman” is best fit for the Mayors’ Responsible Spouses and Ladies of Pampanga (MRS Pampanga) as they now wittingly play an active role in family and community empowerment.
It is a fact that no one among our municipal chief executives could become effective mayors if their wives are not supportive to their governance and leadership.
The mayors could not efficiently run their respective municipalities if their wives are not good partners in running the day to day activities of their families. There would be chaos and mix up not only in the families of the mayors but also in their respective communities if their lifetime partners are not responsible, compassionate and understanding.
We could say that the development and success of the community starts in the family and this is best applied to the mayors whose wives are cooperative, understanding and most of all, loving and caring. These are some of the ingredients of a successful family not only of the mayors but of all husbands in this planet.
It seems that the Kapampangans are lucky because their mayors have legitimate wives who possess the qualities of lifetime partners whom we called, “MRS Pampanga”. Members of MRS Pampanga are the sources of inspirations and strength of our mayors. They are their living crown of glory.
This group of Mayors’ empowered wives and ladies are now actively participating in community mobilization and empowerment to help their husbands achieve the goal of uplifting the quality of lives of the vulnerable sectors of their sectors in their towns such as women, youth, disabled and senior citizens through effective implementation of human and environment friendly activities.
Their project line ups are productivity and skills capability building in cooperation with TESDA, DTI, DA, DSWD and TLRC; Balik-Bayong Project in coordination with the DENR; supplemental feeding through the support of DSWD and DOH and the office of Senator Edgardo Angara.
Indeed, with their sincere mission and vision of helping the poor to help themselves, MRS Pampanga has a long way to go. As we could expect, they would get more support and thumbs up not just from their husbands but from the government and non-government organizations.
For sure you would believe in me that MRS Pampanga’s success would be counted as achievement of the kapampangan mayors. Mabuhay si MRS. Keep on moving! MRS Pampanga is led by Lani Pelayo, February Tumang, Mayor Yolly Pineda, Jen Tetangco, Cynthia Naguit, Cynthia Cunanan, Gie Canlas, among others.
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In this corner, I’d like to give way on the reaction of Dan Mandap from Guagua who read this writer’s column on the Revival of Bayong ni MRS (Mayors’ Responsible Spouses and Ladies of Pampanga) that reads:
“The MRS of Pampanga has embarked on a worthy project which is very commendable, indeed. Though, it’s quite unlikely to go far by itself. For one, you cannot expect people to go to supermarkets carrying their bayongs.
However, the project could start a bandwagon effect. It could awaken the collective consciousness of people into taking care of the environment, which, for a long time, had been abused by people.
We must all contribute now to reverse the damage we ourselves inflicted on the environment, before it is too late and the point of no return is fast approaching.
At any rate, Joel, here’s my suggestion on a large scale, I think all governments should impose bans on the use of traditional plastic bags. They should instead use the biodegradable type of plastic bags.
Sure, biodegradable plastic may at present, cost anywhere from two to three times the cost of ordinary plastic, but the additional cost is worth it in the long run. Aside from that, many countries are now in the process of producing biodegradable plastic at lower cost. Australia is just one of those countries. Thank you very much, Joel, for spending time on my email.”
If you have comments and suggestions, you can email the author at joeley01@yahoo.com or text him at 0921-519-92-23
