Cynthia Villar, Managing Director of the Villar Foundation, is the keynote speaker and special guest of honor of the Women Leaders’ Summit in Compostela Valley.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Women Weathering Climate Change:
Governance and Accountability, Everyone’s Responsibility”. The focus is on climate change and its adverse effects to the environment. It will also tackle disaster preparedness and risk management.
The former Las Piñas Representative cited that she may not be an expert in the topic of climate change, but she has contributed a lot and continues to implement programs to ease the adverse effects of climate change in Las Piñas. Topmost of which is the Las Piñas-Zapote River System Rehabilitation Program and the green social enterprises that were created out of the environmental project.
Villar said, “In the last ten years, I have devoted my time, energy, and resources to this river clean up program which has paid off as Las Piñas has been spared many of the problems that the recent calamities have brought to our country.”
Thus when super typhoons Ondoy, Peping and Sendong devastated numerous parts of the country, Las Piñas was generally spared. “ Kami sa Las Piñas ay nagpapasalamt dahil hindi kami nakaranas ng malaking pinsala. At ito ay dahil sa aming paglilinis ng ilog at kapaligiran. (We in Las Piñas are thankful that we did not experience much damage. And this is because of our continued efforts in cleaning up our river and environment),” Villar said.
Compostela Valley pays tribute to women as a valuable partner in community-building through the annual women leaders’ summit in every locality every year.
In this regard, Villar told the women leaders of Monkayo, that the green social enterprises of the Villar Foundation are a big help to women not only in Las Piñas but in other parts of the country where she and her staff members conduct skills and livelihood training.
Villar Foundation’s green social enterprises include Water Hyacinth Weaving, Handloom Blanket Weaving, Kitchen & Garden Wastes Composting, and Coco Nets.
According to Villar, “Ang mga water hyacinths na dating nagpapabaha sa aming ilog ay nagagawa naming tsinelas, basket, bags, bayong, furniture at iba pa. Ang waste coconut husks naming sa palengke ay nagagawa naming coco net rip rapping, instead of cement (Water hyacinths that use to clog our rivers and cause flooding are now being used as materials in making baskets, bags, slippers, furniture etc. It is the same with coconut husks, these are now used to make coco net rip rap instead of cement).” Coconet is 80% cheaper than cement.
Villar also invited the women of Compostela Valley to visit Las Piñas to see and learn for themselves how the green social enterprises are being done. She also vowed to continue partnering with women in the areas of environment protection and the promotion of livelihood and skills.
