By Sec. Manny Piñol
Chairman, MinDA
The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) will open in Bansalan, Davao del Sur today the second MinDA Tienda, a store which offers basic household needs at lower prices to address the age-old problem of profiteering and overpricing during times of calamities.
The MinDA Tienda today will be held in partnership with the Local Government Unit of Bansalan and Davao Region Local Chambers of Commerce November 14 to 16 in the Barangay Gymnasium, Poblacion 2, Bansalan, Davao del Sur.
MinDA collaborated with NCCC subsidiaries such as Supermarket, Department Store, and Hardwaremaxx to sell basic goods and commercial items. Poultry and fresh products will be sold by other invited suppliers. These commodities will be sold at a significant lesser price than the prevailing market rates.
The Bansalan MinDA Tienda will also mark the start of a new post-disaster intervention advocacy of the Mindanao Development Authority – turning calamity victims into entrepreneurs who will not be dependent on dole-outs and relief assistance.
I do not want to sound cynical because there are really organisations and individuals who come to the help of disaster victims because of their sincere desire to show love but I told the MinDA staff during our meeting yesterday that the relief assistance and dole outs will not last long.
The Mindanao Earthquakes will have lasting adverse effect on the lives of people affected, especially those who will be uprooted from mountain communities and relocated elsewhere.
MinDA has designed a program which will organise disaster victims into associations or cooperatives and train them in financial management and livelihood opportunities such as poultry and hog raising.
By the First Quarter of 2020, after the financial literacy and livelihood training programs are completed, MinDA will establish MinDA Tienda outlets in all earthquake affected areas to be owned and managed by the earthquake victims themselves.
MinDA Tienda outlets are expected to be opened permanently by Q1 2020 in the towns of Makilala, Mlang, Tulunan, Magsaysay, Matanao, Bansalan and Matalam and the cities of Kidapawan and Digos.
MinDA will also reach out to its funding partners to convince them that instead of giving out relief goods, the interventions should be in the form of capitalisation for the operation of the MinDA Tienda and the start of livelihood projects.
This new advocacy that MinDA is introducing could be the first of its kind in the history of Philippine post-disaster interventions and we are happy to lead the way in finding sustainable programs to assist disaster victims in rebuilding their lives by helping them rise up rather than keeping them dependent on assistance and dole-outs.
The MinDA Tienda outlets will become monuments to the resilience and the spirit of self-reliance of Filipinos in the face of disasters and calamities.
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