Company pays tribute to women stakeholders on International Women’s Month
day of the year is Women’s Day. Women comprise a substantial portion of
the company’s workforce, some of them engaged in jobs that are conventionally
known to be the domain of men, including geology, civil works, and mine engineering.
Many of our women employees occupy responsible positions, one of them Vice President
for Social Commitments in the person of Feliece Yeban. The group she leads,
the Community Relations and Development Office (CReDO), in fact, is run and
led mostly by women.
In its website, TVIRD has also featured women in government
and the private sector, such as Siocon Councilor Josefina Tomboc and Siocon
Municipal Health Officer Dr. Patti Saribol for supporting TVIRD’s social
outreach projects “Women
of substance” , as well as Mines and Geosciences Bureau Region 9 Director
Jessica Lucero for encouraging the company to continue its consultations and
engagement with its host and impact communities “Speaking
softly, carrying a big stick”.
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Clockwise
from top left, Siocon Muncipal Health Officer Dr. Patti Saribol, Mines and Geosciences Bureau Region 9 Director Jessical Lucero (in white with her staff), Siocon Councilor Josefina Tomboc, TVIRD Canatuan CReDO Manager (standing in black speaking before members of the Siocon Subanon Women’s Association, Inc.) and TVIRD Vice President for Social Commitments Feliece Yeban. They are some of the women within and without TVIRD who are behind the company’s successful track record in responsible mining. |
TVIRD’s CReDO, for its part, is also at the forefront
of raising the awareness of women about issues of equality, emancipation, and
empowerment in the company’s host indigenous Subanon community in Canatuan,
Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte. Through CReDO’s guidance and assistance,
the women of Canatuan have banded together to form the Siocon Subanon Women’s
Association (SSWAI). Traditionally not allowed to hold leadership positions
and not treated as equal to men, these women have discovered creativity in themselves
which, in turn, has helped them gain self-confidence and the realization that
they have the power to improve the quality of life in their homes, families,
and community.
There are more than 150 SSWAI members who make up 16 savings
or micro-enterprise groups with at least five members each. They have initiated
projects that include a community museum and souvenir shop that showcases the
Subanon culture and helps generate funds; savings groups that help promote strategies
for capital generation, as well as financial literacy management training; traditional
and alternative medicine training; a food self-sufficiency project that encourages
sustainable livelihood for women; capacity-building programs that promote, among
others, values formation and alternative learning systems.
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The
wind beneath TVIRD’s wings. Top photo, Sidai Dandana and Ana Combi of SSWAI. Middle photo are TVIRD women employees (from top left) Rydahl Bangkas of Human Resources, Sheila Perillo of Environment Department, Keets Estillore of Exploration, and Rocelle Magpayo of CReDO. Bottom photo, more TVIRD distaff forces, (from left) Canatuan Mine Department’s Deyn Sandiko, Maira Gulinao, and Ayra Guillermo. |
With their newfound strength as a group and as individuals,
the members of SSWAI, together with CReDO, plan to continue their projects and
build on their successes this year and beyond.
TVIRD will always be there to provide support and encouragement.
It believes that without the women within and outside it who, through their
innate caring attitude and soft-spot for their fellow women, their male partners,
their children, and the environment, the company would not have been able to
achieve its successful track record in responsible mining.
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Top,
CReDO’s Noelle Nazareno (in black with hat) teaches Subanon women the latest dance steps for an intermission number during an SSWAI activity. Below, Women’s Month poster prepared by Roc Magpayo. |
