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Remote barangays in Mindanao get light and loans under AMORE Program
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October 21, 2003, Davao City -- Remote communities in Mindanao that lag behind in development due to persistent lack of electricity are starting to see the light with the impending electrification of their communities with stand-alone renewable energy (RE) systems and the availability of loans for their RE-powered livelihood activities, under the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) Program. Barangays Dalag, Magsaysay, Katualan, Magwawa, and a still unidentified barangay, all in Davao, will soon enjoy the benefits of electrification following the signing today in this city of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Davao Light and Power Company, Inc. (DLPC) for DLPC’s donation of solar power equipment for AMORE’s energization of these barangays. USAID Philippines Deputy Mission Director Francis Donovan and DLPC President and Chief Operating Officer Alfonso Y. Aboitiz signed the MOU in the presence of Davao City Vice Mayor Luis C. Bonguyan, AMORE Chief of Party Rodrigo Cabrera, and AMORE Deputy Chief of Party Katrina Ignacio. During the same ceremony, AMORE officials witnessed the awarding by its recently signed-up partner, the Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corporation (QUEDANCOR) – the Department of Agriculture’s credit arm – of its first batch of non-collateral, low-interest micro-loans for RE-powered livelihood activities of 45 AMORE beneficiaries in barangays Dalo-Dalo, Tambunan, and South Tapian Bohe, all in the municipality of Sapa-Sapa in Tawi-Tawi. The loans, which were awarded by QUEDANCOR President and CEO Nelson Buenaflor to members of AMORE-organized Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Associations (BRECDAs) in its beneficiary communities, each range from P10,000-P15,000, come with a 2% monthly interest, and are payable in six months. They will fund the beneficiaries’ seaweeds processing enhancement projects. QUEDANCOR will also give assistance to the loan grantees on technologies that are appropriate to their livelihood projects, while AMORE will equip them with entrepreneurial skills to enhance the prospects for their projects’ success. The next set of beneficiaries, whose loans will be facilitated by November this year, will come from barangays lakit-Lakit, North Tapian Bohe, and Sapaat, all still in Sapa-Sapa, Tawi-Tawi. They will use the loans to enhance their fresh fish trading and fish drying livelihood activities. AMORE, a 30-month program of USAID ending in September 2004 which is being implemented by global NGO Winrock International in partnership with the Department of Energy (DOE), the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and Mirant Philippines, is electrifying at least 160 conflict-affected remote rural communities in Muslim Mindanao, which cannot be connected to the existing power grid, with clean and sustainable renewable energy such as solar, micro-hydro, biomass and wind energy, to power micro-enterprise and social services development and thereby promote sustainable peace in the region and the rest of the country. The program supports the DOE’s O’Ilaw Program which aims to energize all of the country’s unenergized barangays by 2006. AMORE covers the provinces of Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Sulu, Zamboanga Sibuguey, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, and South Cotabato, and the cities of Zamboanga and Davao. The program’s partnership with DLPC is its second with the private sector, its first being with the country’s largest independent power producer, Mirant Philippines. Both partnerships are for the supply of solar equipment for AMORE barangays. Its partnership with QUEDANCOR has created a PhP 25-million micro-loan facility for qualified RE-powered livelihood projects of AMORE beneficiaries, meant to boost the communities’ capacity to sustain their RE systems over the long term. USAID funds go into boosting the sustainability of the RE systems through extensive community empowerment to operate, maintain and benefit fully from such systems long after AMORE has ended. |
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