The Verde Island Passage (VIP) in Lobo, Batangas has the highest concentration of shorefish species in the world. This area, which is famous worldwide as the “Center of Global Shorefish Biodiversity,” is, unfortunately, in grave danger due to excessive mining.
Most of the residents in the surrounding barangays get their livelihood from small-scale mining and they gravitate towards said trade due to lack of other viable livelihood options.
In response to this, the Goldilocks Foundation, in partnership with ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation Inc.’s (ALKFIs) Bantay Kalikasan and the Nutrition Center of the Philippines, recently launched a fully-functional Kabuhayan Bakery. It was built so the local populace will have an alternative means of livelihood and reduce their dependence in mining.
The bakery, located in Masaguitsit-Banalo High School, is the first of many planned for other locales around the VIP. It has already hired and trained locals, mostly students, to operate the bakery. Aside from a steady wage, each employee is getting some much needed experience and training so that they may operate and manage their own bakeries someday. They are taught how to bake the bread and how to run the business from a managerial perspective.
Honda Philippines, one of the program’s major partners, also helped in delivering the baked goods to its customers. Honda donated a motorcycle so the bakery’s products may be transported around the city.
Goldilocks, the country’s number one bakeshop, intended to make the Kabuhayan Bakeshop an integral part of its Foundation’s advocacy. “Through the Kabuhayan Bakery project, we hope that lesser people around the VIP pursue other livelihood options,” Goldilocks Marketing Director Cherry Caluya said. “Keeping the populace from mining will definitely help in the conservation of the area,” she concluded.
At the launch, attendees and participants were given the opportunity to see and experience what the program aims to preserve. The guests were toured through the VIP where they went snorkeling, they also visited the areas mangroves, planted seedlings at an organic farm, and marvelled at the beauty of Lobo through the lighthouse.
Also supporting the program are San Miguel Mills and the the local government of Lobo, led by Mayor Gaudioso Manalo.
For more information about the initiatives of Goldilocks Foundation, visit the official Goldilocks website at www.goldilocks.com.ph