BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance appropriating the amount of P3.2 million or P25,000 for every Kalipunan ng Liping Pilipina (KALIPI) Women’s Federation organized in the city’s 128 barangays to be utilized as seed funds for their start-up livelihood projects.
The ordinance authored by Councilor Lilia A. Fariñas stated that the proposed local legislative measure aims to convene the KALIPI Women’s Federation in the city every third Friday of March to coincide with the National Women’s Month celebration to promote its establishment in barangays without the group to equip them with the necessary knowledge and leadership skills in self-management, and for them to avail of the benefits and opportunities that the measure seeks to provide.
Further, it also seeks to empower barangays with existing KALIPI organizations by conducting a status check on their present situations, access the problems and difficulties they face and formulate solutions to address them.
The ordinance will also work out the conduct of skills assessment of all the KALIPI members to facilitate the most feasible match to fit the livelihood they are willing to undergo.
According to the ordinance, it also seeks to provide the government and non-government agencies who will provide financial, entrepreneurial, educational, and managerial skills for their operation, such as but not limited to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, the Cooperative Development Authority and others.
The proposed measure intends to review their development and progress in their chosen fields of livelihood or entrepreneurship to correct flaws or irregularities that will prompt the necessary changes to enhance and improve their operations.
Under the proposed measure, KALIPIs that would like to avail of the seed fund shall submit through a letter its intention to the City Social Welfare and Development office, the P25,000 seed fund shall be regarded as a loan from the local government and therefore subject to repayment or reimbursement with minimal interest as may be allowed by the Local government code and the local finance committee, the repayment or reimbursement of every KALIPI may either be monthly, quarterly, biennially or annually depending on the preference of the concerned group or on the terms they may be granted by the city through the local finance committee, if the KALIPI will be able to repay or reimburse the said funds with interest applied thereto, being their obligation to the city, the group may be again allowed to access the same amount for their expansion and continuance, making therefore the said funds a revolving fund and if, however, the KALIPI would not be able to refund or repay the said fund, the group shall be blacklisted as delinquent organization and subjected to fines and penalties as may be prescribed by the city through the local finance committee and subject to all existing laws, rules and regulations.
The City Social Welfare and Development office shall conduct regular monitoring as to the utilization of the said funds by the participating KALIPIs to ensure the success in progress of their entrepreneurial activities being undertaken for their resilience in the future.
By Dexter A. See
