THE Iloilo City Government, through the Uswag Negosyo Academy (Una) and the Sustainable Income Generation through Entrepreneurship (Sige) Program, is intensifying its support for market vendors by providing essential business training for long-term livelihood sustainability on August 5, 2025.
In a recent launch, Iloilo City Mayor Inday Raisa Treñas emphasized the City’s pivot from short-term assistance to long-lasting entrepreneurial development.
“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. Ang one-time nga ayuda temporaryo lang. Ang mabaton mo subong, pagka-bwas wala na. Amo ini ang rason kon nga-a ang Iloilo City Government nagahimo sang programa agud mas mapatin-ad ang inyo nga pag-negosyo. Kay kon manami kag sige-sige ang inyo pag-negosyo, sige man ang inyo pag-asenso,” the mayor stressed.
(Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. One-time relief is temporary. What you get today, tomorrow is gone. This is why the Iloilo City Government is developing a program to make your business easier. Because if you do good and keep doing business, you will keep progressing.)
The Una, which evolved from the earlier Negosyo Center Academy, had already trained over 1,500 market vendors before its formal relaunch.
The program offers half-day sessions on financial literacy, food safety, visual merchandising, digital literacy, and business registration, aligning vendors with the modernized demands of public market operations.
Vilma Lao, head of the Local Economic Development and Investment Promotion (Ledip) Office, highlighted the significance of both digital connectivity and business capacity building.
She noted that over 300 vendors join each training batch, with banks actively involved in providing financial education and services.
Treñas credited the continuing modernization of Iloilo City’s public markets, which began under former Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, as a driving force behind upgrading vendor competencies. The transformation of market infrastructure, she said, must be matched with equally capable entrepreneurs.
Gratitude was extended to the dedicated teams of Ledip headed by Bing Lao, the Local Economic Enterprise Office (Leeo) led by Maricel Mabaquiao, the Iloilo City Negosyo Center, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and private partners such as the Bankers Association of Iloilo (BAI) Inc., GCash, SM, and BDO Foundation.
“Nagapamatuod ini nga kon naga-binuligay kita, malab-ot gid naton ang kadalag-an para sa pinalangga naton nga Siyudad sang Iloilo. Ilonggos, let us all rise to action!” Treñas said.
(This proves that if we work together, we can achieve victory for our beloved City of Iloilo. Ilonggos, let us all rice to action.)
The Sige Program is one of the flagship initiatives under the Rising Economy pillar of Treñas’ administration. This marks the second major program launch within just five weeks of her tenure as mayor. (Leo Solinap)