Bacolod Crisis

At Large : Full circle in Bacolod

Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service

MY FIRST trip to Bacolod City took place at the height of the "sugar crisis" in the 1980s when plummeting sugar prices plunged Negros Occidental into tremendous hardship, cutting across all social classes, including the pampered "haciendero" [landowner] class, but most especially the families of sugar workers and itinerant plantation workers known as "sagadas."

The economic and social upheaval led to armed unrest and repression, particularly in the poorest areas of the province. As staffers of the "alternative" newsweekly Veritas, we had been sent there to document not just the symptoms of the crisis, but also the first steps being taken by concerned citizens and church and civic groups to mitigate the worst effects of the crisis, as well as to address the yawning gap between the social classes, a problem that was fueling the violence and restlessness.

Another trip to Bacolod last week brought me full circle from that first trip of decades ago. I had gone there as part of the newly revitalized board of trustees of the Remedios AIDS Foundation, to be oriented on "best practices" of NGO and not-for-profit board governance, meeting with board members and officers of the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation Inc.

The foundation is one of many institutions that were born of the crisis of the 1980s, founded by a group of women who had bonded with each other through decades of friendship or family ties, and decided that they would do their part to mitigate the crisis by providing access to credit to poor families.

Guided by the principles and methodology of the Grameen Bank, which was founded by Mohammed Yunus in Bangladesh, the foundation first set up Project "Dungganon," which in Ilonggo means "honorable." Through this project, the foundation reaches out to the "poorest of the poor," providing micro-credit for livelihood projects to women who would not otherwise qualify for loans from traditional sources.

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AS similar projects the world over have proven, the Grameen approach works by organizing community women into "associations" or "branches" who collectively assume responsibility for all their individual loans. Payments for the loans are thus monitored and assured by social pressure, since no new loans for association members will be made available unless there is full compliance with repayment terms.

Women also comprise the vast majority of borrowers because they have proven to be more reliable borrowers than men, paying back their loans promptly and fully, and channeling their profits into growing their business and improving the health and educational status of their children.

Encouraged by the success of "Dungganon," the foundation later established Project "Kasanag" or "Light," which expanded upon the original micro-credit concept to provide larger loans for small- and medium-scale enterprises.

So far, says Dr. Cecilia del Castillo, NWTF executive director, they have reached 55,000 women, not just in Negros Occidental but also in Samar, Cebu and Palawan, and aim to soon reach 100,000 women.

Last year, the foundation chalked up another achievement, a first for an NGO in Western Visayas, by transforming itself into a Micro-Finance Thrift Bank, housed in a 2-year-old four-story building which also serves as a training center with accommodations for small groups.

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"AS I keep telling the staff and the board," recounts Dr. Del Castillo, "if our intention is just to give away money, then we should just fly over the province and drop money into barrios. But that is not why we exist. We are here to build institutions, and more important to us than the economic assistance we provide, is the impact our programs have on our clients' self-esteem and self-worth."

An early study commissioned to look into the impact of their programs has determined that 20 percent of their clients are able to "climb out of poverty level" after five to seven years. "The big bulk of our clients, though remain just below the poverty level," says Dr. Del Castillo, explaining why they have decided to increase the loan ceiling to give women on the verge of making it out of a "hand-to-mouth" existence the needed boost.

"We have the track record and have proven that our clients are bankable," boasts Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF) chair Wilhelmina Gonzales. And while she admits that the foundation has had to weather rocky times, even a time when they seemed on the verge of bankruptcy, they recall that they managed to pull through with goodwill they had earned from partners who came up with timely loans to see them through.

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STILL, the biggest rewards, as Dr. Del Castillo recalls, are to be found in the changes they have seen in their women clients.

"One remark that really struck me was what one woman told me: after she had successfully put up her own business, 'my husband is now beginning to listen to me.'" Others testify how their added income has allowed them to send their children to school, while another said the biggest impact of her newfound economic security was that "when I am sick, I can rest."

For sure, as even Dr. Del Castillo and Gonzales admit, the foundation has shortcomings, such as the lack of representation on the board of their clients. Other NGOs in the area have also criticized the NWTF for lack of coordination, especially in areas that are already being served by other organizations.

But overall, it would be difficult to discount the impact of the foundation's work on the lives of their women clients and consequently on their communities. Born out of crisis, the foundation is proving its commitment to development in the fullest sense of this loaded word.