Monthly meetings of members, officers and committees of the women’s organizations continued to be conducted in November and December 2022.
The meetings discussed the project activities and planned on their smooth implementation as well as assessed them after they were implemented.
With the four women’s organizations in Calajoan, Tungkil, Tulay and Tungkop in Minglanilla, the monthly meetings highlighted the impending Minglanilla Reclamation Project where the women expressed their fears of losing their houses and their livelihood and their anxieties on how to cope with such loss. On the other hand, the women were relieved that their fears and opposition of the reclamation project are shared by women from other barangays who came to know about the project. Their morale was further boosted when they came to know about the formation of a new alliance, Cebu Alliance against Reclamation for Life and Environment which they have joined.
Furthermore, there were members who shared that they are not the only ones who are going to suffer from the reclamation but farmers living in mountains that will be sites of quarrying for land and soil to be dumped in the reclamation site will be affected as well. They will lose their land which are sources of their farming livelihood. Thus, the women in the four organizations realized that they need to work together with the peasant women groups in opposing the reclamation project and quarrying.
The committees in Minglanilla have also taken initiatives to disseminate information on the Minglanilla Reclamation Project to people outside Minglanilla, both in Cebu Province and national level through social media in order to get their support. For instance, during the meetings of the Parents-Teachers Associations in the local elementary and secondary schools in Minglanilla, the women who are parents presented their issue of the reclamation project.
The monthly meetings were also welcomed opportunities for the members to share their problems in their homes, on how they are coping with the rising cost of basic needs due to the series of oil price increases and the needs of their children who are now having face to face classes after two years of home-based classes due to the pandemic.
