By Anthony A. Araos
LAGAWE, IFUGAO – – The Lagawe Federation of Women’s Organizations (LFWO), in partnership with the Lagawe municipal government, is holding this year’s edition of the Search for the Most Outstanding Women’s Organization Awards program as part of its efforts to promote women empowerment in the capital town.
LFWO president Angeline Guinid met recently leaders of various women’s organizations to brief them on the mechanisms of the competition.
The LFWO, one of the most active women’s organizations in Ifugao, has set its vision to improve the quality of life of impoverished but hard working women by providing them livelihood opportunities- hence, lessening poverty incidence.
Lagawe, with 20 barangays, is one of the poorest towns of Ifugao. It is still a fourth-class municipality.
“The competition is designed to give today’s women a better understanding of the challenges that our country faced under the administration of President Duterte,” she said.
“We hope that by doing this, we are able to provide them a wider and better perspective of their role in society that will hopefully guide them in the future,” she added.
In an exclusive interview with the ZigZag Weekly, Guinid in emphasizing the need the meet the challenge of in bringing women in rural areas on board in relation to the government’s goal of achieving inclusive growth, motioned that “high-achieving, low-income women definitely need all-out support to ensure they overcome daily economic hardships.”
From three major awards in 2017, there are five awardees for 2018. Top winner is receiving Php 15,000. Second, third, fourth and fifth placers are to get Php 12,000, Php 10,000, Php 8,000 and Php 6,000, respectively. This is on top of projects reportedly promised by the municipal government.
The LFWO pursues timely and relevant programs, projects and activities with the hope that women will have an improved living condition, be self-reliant in the not-so-distant future and uplift themselves and their families from poverty.
Ladong Women’s Organization, a nongovernment organization (NGO) based in Barangay Poblacion West, was conferred the overall winner of the 2017 edition. It received Php 15,000. A women’s organization in Barangay Poblacion North placed second. Another Barangay Poblacion West-based women’s organization ranked third.
The LFWO has a membership of 25 organizations. Twenty five of them are active. There are about 1,200 members. Erlinda Lunag is the vice president.
Under Guinid’s watch, the LFWO implemented a number of genuinely pro-women initiatives.
With hardly any support from the provincial government, however, the officers of the LFWO need to pull together for them to realize the objective of extending helping hands to achieve growth and prosperity, create wealth for the less fortunate and improve living conditions in underserved communities. For short, for LFWO officers and members to realize their potentials to the fullest, everyone has to pull together.
In contrast, the LFWO continues to move forward in its initiatives that provide opportunities for a better life for women across the town.
“This clearly shows that our officers understand the importance of the LFWO’s pro-poor and social development advocacies in underprivileged communities,” she said.
The articulate LFWO head further notes that considering the vitality of impressing a board of judges composed of distinguished individuals, it is ideal for member-organizations to create a platform where members and their officers can plan, coordinate and cooperate to finalize their best ever entry.
Winners are expected to be known by March of 2018.
The LFWO’s awards program has already earned distinction of some sorts in the province. It is hoped that that the next winners are chosen not only because their members engaged in a livelihood venture or are quite active in community activities but also and, more importantly, for their exceptional dedication to advance gender-based concerns and promote the economic well-being of women in these difficult financial times.
With low-earning capacity of women here, as in the other 10 towns of Ifugao, the Lagawe women are unserved and underserved. Their worth seemed to be diminished and needs and wants are given little or no attention at all.
Parallel to the LFWO”s quest for the betterment of women, the federation has the reputation of forging stronger ties among officers and members.
Be that as it may, Lagawe is in dire need of strong and dedicated women leaders like Ms. Guinid, who is also the Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) president of Ifugao SPED Center.
Through the years, Lagawe is hard up in fixing glaring gender imbalance in public office. Today, it has only one female councilor and one female punong barangay (village chieftain).
In the public and private sectors, women are given menial jobs. While high-paying jobs usually and obviously taken by their male counterparts.
In search for better conditions of women, Ms. Guinid endeavored hard to seek answers to problems thus, she enjoyed wide popularity. The fact that the LFWO earned so many praises from various sectors means that Ms. Guinid and the other LFWO officers were eminently successful and even victorious in that extremely difficult regard. **
