The eSariSari program and Catch The Wave campaign to link more underserved areas with fast and affordable internet connections and reliable, clean energy have started to roll out. Cooperatives, companies, and local governments are already underway to install Internet lines and solar power.
Sven Ische, President and Chairman of Community 360 Group (C360), said extended Internet connections under the eSariSari brand are now being laid out for areas that the major telecommunication companies in the Philippines have not reached.
He cited that the National Confederation of Cooperatives (Natcco) is rolling out the program nationwide, with two cooperatives in Bukidnon already benefiting from the technology and platform.
Natcco CEO Ebing Paraguya and Stanley Uriarte, president of Community Wireless and Power Corporation (CWPC), the Philippines company of C360, have signed an agreement to implement the eSariSari at the more than 8 million Natcco members.
eSari-Sari is a connectivity, renewable energy and electronic commerce platform developed by C360, especially for the rural areas in the Philippines based on a franchise model.
The Cantilan Bank of Surigao del Sur is among the organizations that have already participated in the Internet program.
He also said that Magsaysay in Misamis Oriental and Baganga in Davao Oriental were the first local government units to enter into memoranda of agreement with CWPC.
More local government executives have also approached CWPC to join the eSariSari program and to roll out the program to provide better connectivity to their municipalities and communities.
CWPC offers eSariSari franchises (www.esarisari.net) to interested local entrepreneurs as a means to spread out the benefit of additional cyber technology quickly so more Filipinos can Catch The Wave.
Uriarte said he is expecting additional partners to join the Catch The Wave movement soon, as it aims to enable sustainable development and improve the lives of Filipinos, for example, with eCommerce applications for farmers and educational programs, like the AWLs program together with the Department of Education, being available on the eSariSari platform. PR