THE Lapu-Lapu City livelihood office personnel recently gave Olango Island women a double treat—they trained them to cook snacks and gave them cooking equipment to start their small business.
“Ang dos sientos pesos nga empanada mokita na na og kuwatro sientos. Dako-dako na na (The P200 worth of empanada would earn you P400. That is already big),”said Josephine Quirante, head of the Lapu-Lapu City Cooperative and Livelihood Resource Center (LCLRC).
Some 200 housewives, some with their children in tow, and young women braved the heat while inside different tents in front of the mini hoops dome in Barangay Talima, Olango island as LCLRC specialists trained them on how to cook popular native snacks “butsi,” “espasol,” and “siakoy,” “empanada,” among others.
Various women’s organizations from mainland Lapu-Lapu City such as Kalipunan ng Liping Pilipina (KALIPI), AKO Babaye Federation, and Kababayen-an Ahong Association sailed to Olango Island to support the training at the mini hoops dome in Talima.
“Atong abagan ang mayor sa iyang pagtabang sa kababayen-an nga tagaan sila og panginabuhian ug higayon nga moasenso (Let us help our mayor in his efforts to help women in giving them livelihood to uplift their lives),” Cindi Chan, City’s chairperson of the Women’s Commission told housewives and young ladies.
Chan, wife Mayor Junard Chan, said the city government, through LCLRC provides livelihood training, specifically cooking, to augment family income, especially in the time of pandemic when most of the breadwinners lost their jobs.
LCLRC specialists also trained housewives on how to make powder detergent and dishwashing liquids.
Towards the end of the training Chan, Quirante and LCLRC Olango head Joy Morales formally turned over cooking equipment to women representatives from different barangays.
“Kada barangay hatagan nato og equipment pangkabuhayan (We will give livelihood equipment to each barangay),” said Chan, who is also Tourism, Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission chairperson.
Chan, Quirante and Morales will visit every barangay in the island to turn over equipment, a total of P27,249 worth of cooking and baking equipment for each barangay’s women organization.
The amount include a full cooking gas tank and two-burner stove, set of mixing bowls, set of pots and Teflon pans, huge steamer, huge cauldron and cooking pots, weighing scale, among others.