Jobs Close to Home: Meat Processing Mini-Factory in ANCOP Ville

 

Jobs Close to Home: Meat Processing Mini-Factory in ANCOP Ville

The experience of the national government in socialized housing in the past decades has exposed an Achilles’ heel of a problem. As the so-called ‘informal settlers’ gain new homes in a place in the outskirts of the city, they lose their jobs, so they end up going back to where they came from: the city’s underbelly and inner streets. As it turns out, even vagrants stay where they are because that is where their source of living is: the street. That is why the government, through the National Housing Authority, has taken steps to address the problem. One solution being implemented is distributing housing units (often with a minimal monthly due to give the occupants a sense of ownership and fulfilment -- and dignity) right where the poor live, as in the case of Makati Mayor Jojo Binay and Manila Mayor Lito Atienza building tenements along the Philippine National Railway tracks in their area. But apart from these, this strategy is immediately struck down by the lack of available space in the old centers of population.

There are a few successful resettlement areas, as in the case of the thriving community in General Trias, Cavite, but the sight of several unoccupied socialized housing facilities in many areas outside Metro Manila is haunting. Another solution, therefore, needs to be viable, and that is why at the outset, the socially conscious Catholic charismatic lay group Couples for Christ-Answering the Cry of the Poor (CFC-ANCOP) has envisioned their resettlement projects all over the country as a comprehensive creation of a true village – with a set of officials, a community center, faith life with long-term character-building program, scholarship for the kids, and most crucially, a source of livelihood.

This is the rationale behind the establishment of a meat processing facility by the Kasama Kita sa Barangay Foundation Inc. (KKSBFI) under Executive Director Romyl Junio at the CFC-ANCOP Ville in Brgy. Sancagulis, Bayambang, Pangasinan, a little village whose beneficiaries are members of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. They comprise of 30 households whose respective income falls below the official poverty threshold.

 

Capitalizing on Filipinos’ penchant for processed meat products especially for breakfast, and with consideration of today’s increasingly fast-paced lifestyle, the ANCOP Ville Meat Processing Mini-Factory was built right within the vicinity. According to Junio, the construction period was from September 1 to November 20, 2019. “The facility cost is approximately P2,490,212, including the stainless steel cabinets, tables, and sink.”

Of course, the villagers were amply prepared for the eventual turnover of the factory to their association, with the help of the Local Government Unit of Bayambang through the Bayambang Poverty Reduction Action Team under Dr. Joel T Cayabyab and in cooperation with Brgy. Sancagulis officials. On June 25, 2019, the settlers underwent an intensive 15-day training program in which they were equipped with the knowhow in running a meat processing facility.

The training program was launched at the Balon Bayambang Events Center where the 20 project participants selected -- mostly housewives -- lost no time in learning the basics of Food Processing and Management, including Training on Meat Processing and Management – chiefly the manufacture of skinless longanisa, tocino, and beef tapa. Dovie Q. Santillan and Dr. Margie DG. Marciano from TESDA-Pangasinan Training Institute served as trainors.

This was followed by an Entrepreneurship Seminar and then a course on Basic Bookkeeping and Accounting.

Also included in the training package was an inner work of character-building by instilling a sense of responsibility and business ownership among the resident-participants.

"All in all, the livelihood training package costs us (KKSBFI) an additional P100,000 plus P50,000 for the start-up capital," Junio revealed.

During the opening program, Vice-Mayor Raul Sabangan drove home the point by telling the trainees, “Ang programang ito ay isang daan upang bigyan kayo ng karunungan sa paghahanap-buhay, kaya sana bigyan ito ng importansya upang pag-asenso ay mabilis na makamtan.” Likewise voicing his support, the Chairman of the Sangguniang Bayan Committee on Social Services, Councilor Benjamin Francisco S. de Vera went philosophical with a most apt quote: ‘Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.’

KKSBFI’s Junio also made the right choice of words of encouragement, when he pointed out, “Kailangan [tayo mismo ang] kumilos upang masugpo ang kahirapan, dahil limitado lamang ang tulong na maiaabot ng pamahalaan, at instrumento lamang kami upang kayo ay bigyan ng tulong.”

With the necessary knowledge and skills gained by the program participants, it is hoped that they will be able to establish and manage a sustainable micro-enterprise through the meat processing business, in which they could have a stable source of income. They will be able to earn for themselves, buy the necessary needs for their family, provide for the educational needs of their children, and be a productive member of the community. This, in the long term, will give them have a sense of hope and self-respect as they are able to get by in life without relying too much on the local government for support. 

The wives, especially, would not have to leave home and their children or suffer the long commute just to earn a decent income for their families.

(by Resty S. Odon, with Mark Espino and BPRAT)