BARANGAY SAUD in Pagudpud and Mariano Marcos State University in Batac, both significant places in this northern part of the country, will become known to the world as home to industrious shellcraft producers and strong advocates of rural entrepreneurship when four members of MMSU’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) will compete in the 2006 SIFE World Cup in Paris, France on Sept. 10-20.

Thanks to the collective efforts of Joyce Rallojay, Janill Magano, Patrick Sadornas, and Nathaniel Alonzo and the whole extension directorate of MMSU after emerging as national champion in the 2006 SIFE National Exposition held at the Bayview Park Hotel in Manila on June 16.

Paris will be the venue where all national champions from 48-member countries will vie for the World Cup.

Except for Sadornas who is a fourth year accountancy student, the rest of the team are CAS students taking sociology (Rallojay), biology (Magano), and computer science (Alonzo).They were accompanied by Ms. Bella C. Gervacio, the team’s adviser. Lending support to the group were other staff of MMSU’s extension directorate led by Director Marivic Alimbyuguen who is also director of the university’s Center for Human Rights Education, a major supporter of SIFE.

Before bagging the national championship, the MMSU team competed with 16 schools which were also regional exposition winners. These were:  from NCR: De La Salle University-Dasmariñas, Lucena City Colleges, San Beda College, and San Sebastian College;   from Luzon: Aura Mondrian College, Columban College, Lyceum Northwestern University, and St. Louis College of San Fernando; from Visayas: Colegio de la Purisima Concepcion, Polytechnic State College of Antique, University of Iloilo, and West Visayas State University:  from Mindanao: Holy Trinity College-Gen. Santos, Mindanao State University-Marawi, and Sultan Kudarat Polytechnic State College.

MMSU’s group emerged as one of the four finalists in the semi-final round before finally clinching the championship.

The MMSU-SIFErs will receive cash incentive from the university as an appreciation of their commitment in creating better opportunities for the rural folks.  In addition, the Commission on Human Rights-I through Director Anita Chauhan will also be giving them P5,000 on July 14.

The SIFE Project

The SIFE Project has been an instrumental in enhancing the entrepreneurial and knowledge capabilities of rural folks in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.  For two years now, the SIFE team has been going in and out of Barangay Saud in the said town to bring in desirable change and brighter opportunities for the rural folks. Also, DTI, TESDA, PGIN, and MSWO-Pagudpud have been one in conducting activities to improve their shellcrafts. In fact, the Japan International Cooperation Agency has also provided them P50,000 to acquire drilling machine, grinders, and cutters to make their products finer.  Enhancement trainings on product design and packaging have also been conducted which greatly contributed to the improvement of their products and services.  From producing and selling poorly designed house decors, the rural folks now have a variety of products to offer such as office decors, personal accessories, and souvenir items for weddings, baptismal, graduations, and other special occasions.

To ensure the sustainability of the project, MMSU’s SIFE team, together with the agencies mentioned earlier, facilitated the creation of Saud White Sand Shellcraft Producers’ Association.  The organization seeks also to stabilize product price to avoid competition among the producers. At present, MMSU is working for the registration of the organization to the Department of Labor and Employment.  The shellcraft producers have been also linked to more market outlets in the province aside from the stalls they maintain at the Saud Beach Resort.

According to Fidilberto Curammeng, barangay chairman of Saud, the SIFE project has brought housewives and their husbands as well as their children make business of their own. “Before, you could see women gambling, gossiping, and delousing each other’s heads. Now you can see them very busy managing their family business,” he said.