‘The Bread Camp’: Aboitiz provides baking livelihood for PSG wives
In celebration of National Women’s Month, the Aboitiz Group is empowering the wives of the nation’s defenders who are now baking and selling various baked goods as part of a sustainable baking livelihood.
The Aboitiz Group, through its corporate social responsibility arm the Aboitiz Foundation and its food business unit Pilmico, inaugurated last February 20 “The Bread Camp,” a bakery to be run by the Presidential Security Group (PSG) Enlisted Personnel (EP) Ladies Club in Malacañang Park, Manila.
Around 300 PSG wives (60 of which were trained by a Pilmico baking technician) will directly benefit in the revival of the once-lucrative bakery business.
“Itong aming bakery, when I reported last 2016, naka-open pa siya, pero medyo naghihingalo na. Then a few months after, it totally closed and it remained so for some time. Mabuti nalang may well-meaning friends like Aboitiz na gustong tumulong sa mga sundalo,” [This bakery was still open, but struggling, when I first reported for duty last 2016. Then a few months after, it totally closed and it remained so for some time. We are grateful for well-meaning friends like Aboitiz who want to help our soldiers.] said PSG Commander Col. Jose Eriel Niembra.
One of ‘The Bread Camp’s” special offering is the “Pan Digong”, a premium goat cheese pandesal named after President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
“I heard he [Pres. Duterte] loves bread. He is a very simple man and he has a deep love for Filipinos. I think pandesal would be the best option of bread that he would prefer,” said Cristina Versoza, EP Ladies Club member.
Niembra noted that “The Bread Camp” has a good chance of succeeding by catering to nearby communities.
“We have a captured market: katabi natin ang Madrigal Apartments. Alangan namang pupunta pa sila [PSG] sa labas para bumili pa. Lahat siguro na ng command activities, siguro dito na tayo kukuha,” [Beside us is the Madrigal Apartments. Instead of the PSG having to go out to buy bread, most likely we’ll get from here all the supply for all the command activities] Niembra added.
According to EP Ladies Club Business Manager Gina Marie Mallari, The Bread Camp will greatly benefit her group. Mallari, whose husband works in Malacañang as a PSG guard, is a former teacher who aims to utilize her newly-acquired baking skills in preparation for her husband’s retirement.
“If ever na mag-retire husband ko, ang ambisyon ko ay mag-open ng bakery sa probinsya, sa Pampanga. Mag-seset-up ako ng sarili kong bakery, at magagamit ko ang skills ko sa baking. Malaking tulong talaga dito sa PSG ang bakery na sponsored ng Aboitiz,” [When my husband retires, I want to open and set up a bakery in Pampanga using my baking skills. Indeed, the Aboitiz-sponsored Bread Camp will really be a big help to us in the PSG.] Mallari said.
Last June 2018, Pilmico donated to the PSG a bakery livelihood kit consisting of a two-deck oven, spiral mixer, cake mixer, loaf slicer, cooking rack, display chiller, chest-type freezer, and Pilmico flour and baking ingredients. The PSG ladies underwent baking training and learned to bake bread, pastries, cakes, and other goods under the “PAGKAIN (Pagbabago ay Gawin, Kabuhayang Pang-Agrikultura I-aalay Natin) Biyaya ng Pagbabago Bakery Livelihood Program.”
“Sa Aboitiz, kami ay nagagalak kasi nakakatulong kami sa mga sundalo natin, especially those serving in the frontlines and the PSG is one of our frontline units. We look forward to this being a sustainable project for the PSG community especially for the dependents of the PSG,” [We in Aboitiz are honored to help our soldiers, especially those in the frontline like the PSG. We look forward to this being a sustainable project for the PSG community especially for the dependents of the PSG.] said David Jude Sta. Ana, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. Chief External Relations Officer.
This is not the first time the Aboitiz Group has extended baking livelihood program to our country’s soldiers. Last January 2018, the Aboitiz Group inaugurated the Noble Bakers Bakery in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, which is run by the Philippine Army Special Operations Command (SOCOM) soldiers who were injured in battle. They have also recently donated bakery to First Scout Ranger Regiment in San Miguel, Bulacan and to the Marawi residents who were displaced during the Marawi City siege.
