INSTEAD of buying powdered detergent and food items such as pork tocino and puto cheese, 230 young and adult women in Barangay Buaya, Lapu-Lapu City attended the City’s livelihood skills training so they can learn how to make all these things on March 4, 2020.

Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan and the Lapu-Lapu City Cooperative and Livelihood Resource Center (LCLRC) led in training housewives and their daughters in making pork tocino, binangkal, puto cheese and powdered detergent.

“I encourage them na, kadtong mga ginikanan nga way kita naa ang gobyerno nga motabang nila. Ingon ana mopangga ang mayor sa mga kabos, sa mga pobre. Tagaan og kahigayunan nga makatabang sa ilahang pagpuyo (I encourage the mothers who do not have income by telling them that the government is always ready to help them. That’s how the mayor cares for the poor. They will be given a chance to do things that can help their lives),” said Chan, who was invited to the event with his first lady Cindi King-Chan.

The free livelihood skills training was part of the City’s ongoing celebration of Women’s Month, which is observed every March.

LCLRC head Josephine Quirante said the participants were provided with electric stoves, raw materials and kitchen wares free of charge.

“This livelihood skills training is part of Mayor Ahong’s campaign promise of bringing services closer to the people,” Quirante said.

Chan earlier said introducing new skills is a way of uplifting the lives of the ordinary housewives and augmenting their family income. He said the City is also conducting a call center training at the Hoops Dome for senior high school graduates and women.

The livelihood skills training for housewives and young women is often conducted at the Hoops Dome every Wednesday. It is pre-scheduled in a particular barangay.

Before the skills training last March 4, the Lapu-Lapu City’s Alive, an association of LGBTIQ+, gave free facial spa to the housewives. The LCLRC staff gave pospas, a rice soup with chicken, to the housewives with their children in tow.

Kababayen-an alang sa kausaban sa katilingban (Kausaban) Federation president Josie Hayashi also graced the occasion.

She was assisted in Buaya by Kausaban chapter president Nenita Alforque. The Kausaban Federation led a parade commemorating the International Women’s Day last March 8. (S)