Beauty & Bounty of Mindanao! MAKE YOUR OWN FACE SHIELD, BAMBOO FARMERS SHOW HOW

Filipinos, especially the poor, are like Bamboos – they sway and bend with the strong wind and they are unbreakable.

In the face of crisis, a group of farmers in my home province, North Cotabato, showed resilience and creativity by making their own face shields out of bamboo slats, instead of buying the imported plastic shields.

The Cotabato Green Workers Association, supported by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) through the initiative of former DTI officer, Manuel “Nonoy” Jayme, made their own bamboo face shield using a pattern which they saw on a Dept. of Science and Technology-FRDI internet post.

The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) has also allocated a meager financial support of P200,000 so the farmers could buy tools and working table.

When I first posted the Bamboo Face Shield on this page, almost 8-million netizens read the post expressing deep admiration for the farmers’ resourcefulness.

Following that post, the farmers were swamped with online orders and they found themselves unable to supply the demand which came from as far as Cagayan Valley to the north.

Instead of keeping the technology to themselves, the farmers have decicded to share it with other farmers in other parts of the country so that they too could earn some money using the Bamboo which grows just about anywhere.

The message of this episode of the Beauty & Bounty of Mindanao is that if we only look at what we have in abundance and support our people in using this, we will surely enjoy an inclusive economic growth.

The Bounty here is the Bamboo which just grows abundantly in Mindanao and the rest of the country and the Beauty is the heart of the poor farmers who are willing to share whatever little things and knowledge they possess.

In this video, the Beauty & Bounty of Mindanao team made a documentary of how the farmers make the Bamboo Face Shields so that others could copy it and earn a small amount to survive the crisis.

The Bamboo Face Shield is sold by the farmers at P80 each, a bit higher than the commercial plastic face shield imported from China.

As Filipinos, however, we have a moral obligation to show our support to these poor farmers who are trying to survive the crisis.

Come to think of it: If 10-million Filipinos will buy the Bamboo Face Shield each, that would mean an P800-million earnings for poor farmers and a huge savings on our dollar reserves.

Earlier this week, I sent out a communication to all Governors and Mayors of Mindanao asking them to help teach their poor farmers how to make their own Bamboo Face Shield and for the LGUs to patronize the product.

We all will survive this crisis if like the Bamboo grove, we sway with the strong wind together.

Let us do our best and God will do the rest.

#TalinoAtGalingNgPilipino!

#CrisisOffersOpportunities!

#KungGustoMaramingParaan!

(This video material was produced by the MinDA Beauty & Bounty of Mindanao Media Team with the support of the Cotabato Green Workers Association of Cotabato, the KALIPI Woman’s Group in Dalipe, Mlang, North Cotabato and the Local Government Unit of Mlang through Vice Mayor Joselito Piñol)

https://fb.watch/aK2zAVFv9H/