SAYING women must be “an engine of growth,” Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte wants more women in the city involved in business.
Belmonte said the Office of the Vice Mayor will train and teach women to become entrepreneurs through its various livelihood program for women, such as the “Tindahan ni Ate Joy” project, Local Inclusiveness Project for the Advancement and Development-Pinay program, Artisan Academy, and even Lazada e-commerce online selling.
The vice mayor said her office can accommodate more women in the “Tindahan ni Ate Joy” on top of its 1,000 members, most of them single mothers.
She said they have expanded the program and reached out to the wives of drug dependents undergoing treatment in community rehabilitation centers, and the wives of the drivers of unregistered or “colorum” tricycles will also become program beneficiaries and at the same time, their husbands will be taught alternative livelihood skills.
The Spark Foundation and SeaOil Foundation have launched the Lipad-Pinay program to help the city government train women on how to put up businesses that is a level up from other livelihood programs, such as soap making and meat processing, she said.
With the help of the Rags2Riches Social Enterprise, Belmonte will also kick off the Artisan Academy to improve the Payatas women sector’s products to reach world-class status.
“Just like in Payatas, a rag sold for only P10 can turn into a nice bag that can be sold for as much as P1,000. Their products are marketed at Rags2Riches boutiques in Metro Manila,” she said.
The Lazada e-commerce plan will teach women how to sell their products online to largely benefit small businesses with inadequate earnings to build a store.
The vice mayor said 40 percent of the biggest companies in the country are being run by women executives, and that over 97 percent of those who apply for micro-credit loans are women, based on the data of Sikap Buhay Entrepreneurship office. “Only 2 percent [of micro-credit lenders] are men,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Herbert Bautista warned on Wednesday hospitals, clinics and medical waste generators not to deal with hazardous waste haulers not certified by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
He approved City Ordinance 2592, requiring such establishments to avail of the services of medical and hazardous waste haulers and treaters accredited only by the DENR.
District 3 Councilor Eufemio Lagumbay authored the measure designed to monitor and regulate the disposal of pathological, infectious, pharmaceutical, radioactive, genotoxic and chemical wastes, and sharp objects from hospitals and clinics for the safety and protection of the public.
Under the measure, hospitals, clinics, and health-care waste generators in Quezon City must secure an environmental clearance from the Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department, and should enter into a service agreement with a DENR-accredited hazardous and waste hauler.
Similar establishments with minimal hazardous wastes should partner with big hospitals.
Bautista warned that failure to register with the EPWMD would be a ground for revocation of the sanitary and business permit issued by the health department and Business Permits and Licensing Office.
In another development, the city council approved City Resolution 6971, authorizing the mayor to donate P1 million to the Rotary International District 3780 Foundation Inc. to support its annual Golden Wheel Awards for vocational excellence.
“In line with the effort of the Rotary International District 3780 to institutionalize the annual award, it is with utmost pride that Quezon City bequeaths the amount of P1 million to Rotary International for it to be able to continue granting the Golden Wheel Award and the honor that goes with it,” Bautista said.