Cynthia Villar turns a river nuisance into livelihood in Las Piñas

MANILA, Philippines - The search for Miss Water Lily, now in its 8th year, was the highlight of the annual Water Lily Festival in Las Piñas last Aug. 2 at the Sipag Center. Amid the festive mood, dancing and music, 20 women from Las Piñas City vied for the title Miss Water Lily. They wore elegant gowns made by skillful designers who captured the qualities of water lilies.

Senator Cynthia Villar said this was a chance for them to showcase and promote the city’s finest products made from water lilies and the significant changes it has brought to the environment and the lives of Las Piñeros.

“We want people to see these ladies’ beautiful gowns made from water lilies’ dried stalks and leaves,” Villar says.

High school students with painted bodies danced and performed acrobatics to the delight of the audience, which included former Senator Manny Villar. Their son, second-term Las Piñas Rep. Mark Villar, and former City Mayor Imelda Aguilar, were also at the festival. The mood was light and joyful, and prizes were given to the dancers.

Growing in abundance in the river of Las Piñas, water lilies used to clog the river and cause it to overflow. Then Cynthia Villar discovered that what was considered an “aquatic nuisance” was filled with promise.

“We have finally cleared our river of wastes, mostly water lilies and coconut husks. In fact, we are now getting water lilies from Laguna Lake to use as raw materials for our water hyacinth weaving enterprise,” says Villar, who is also the managing director of the Villar Foundation. “We also hope to succeed in cleaning up Laguna Lake, as well as the Rio Grande de Mindanao.”

Villar, who has earned the moniker Misis Hanepbuhay due to her advocacy of giving jobs, is immensely happy with the amazing results in the processing of water lilies. The project was very challenging in the beginning, but now she looks back on those days with pride.

The other green social enterprises the Villar Foundation has developed from the river rehabilitation program are coconut weaving, handloom blanket weaving, organic fertilizer, charcoal briquettes, handmade paper factory, citronella oil, and waste plastics recycling to produce school chairs.

Under the foundation’s “Sagip Ilog Program,” Las Piñas River was totally eradicated of water lilies, which were used in making handicraft products like traditional bags (bayong), baskets, placemats, slippers, laundry baskets, chests, lamp shades, coasters and slippers, among others.

Aside from cleaning the river to help avert flooding, Villar stresses that they were able to give livelihood to Las Piñeros, particularly women who cannot leave their homes because they need to tend the house and look after their children.

The cleanup of the Las Piñas Zapote River brought her and the Villar Foundation international recognition from the United Nations. The Villar Foundation was acclaimed the Best Water Management Practice in 2011 for its “Sagip Ilog.”

The senator’s dreams for the wonderful water lilies do not end in Las Piñas, she wants to bring it to other parts of the nation to give the poor a means to earn money.

“I am glad that we have spread the word about our successful livelihood enterprises. They have in fact been duplicated in 242 areas all over the country (172 in Luzon, eight in Visayas and 62 in Mindanao). But our tasks do not stop there, especially since there are 1,600 cities and municipalities nationwide,” says Villar.

She also has big dreams for the Water Lily Festival. “I want this to be one of the most popular festivals in Metro Manila and the whole country. I want it to become as famous as the sinulog, kadayawan and panagbenga.”

From an environmental project that started in 2005, the festival stemmed from an environmental project that in 2005, when the Villar Foundation found the technology to process the water lilies. A filmmaker from Spain then filmed the Las Piñas- Zapote Rehabilitation project for the United Nations.

“We are doing well in this initiative and we need your continued support,” says the senator, who also led the launching of the SIPAG Award Ceremony launching at Villar SIPAG (Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance) Center.

The former three-term congresswoman of Las Piñas City says the SIPAG Award will reward similar community enterprises.

“The Villar Foundation and other organizations know how difficult it is to establish a community enterprise, so it is fitting to recognize their efforts and initiatives.”

Manny Villar adds, “There are some people who are silently helping our government fight poverty and these are the ones we want to recognize.”

Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman, who was one of the guests in the Sipag Award launch, says they are joining the Villar Foundation in recognizing those who are quietly and sincerely assisting the government to curb poverty. “They can be emulated to become models of other poor communities that want to help themselves. We need what Las Piñeros learned from the Villar Foundation especially the use of water lilies, which was a big boost to their livelihood programs, and the environment. We’re looking for mats for disasters, so instead of importing products from China, we’ll use mats from water lilies.”