On September 10 the Governor of Iloilo Province, Philippines, visited the Goducate Training Center – the place where Goducate community workers for poor rural communities will be trained.
Governor Arthur Defensor Senior, who is a fourth term governor of the province of Iloilo, visited the site together with the Mayor of San Miguel, the town in which the training center is situated.
Several hundred people from the neighboring villages greeted the arrival of the Governor and his entourage which included reporters from various newspapers, the TV crew from ABS-CBN, soldiers from the 82nd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and the Philippine Army Medical Team.
Together with volunteer Goducate doctors and dentists, the Philippine Army Medical Team treated several hundred patients during the Governor’s visit.
During his speech, the Governor promised that the provincial government would concretize the access roads to the training center from the National Highway, as soon the necessary rights of way was obtained from our neighbors. He publicly instructed the Mayor to assist Goducate to obtain these rights from the owners of the land. He also pledged his total support for the training center – saying that it would be a real benefit to the people of Iloilo, the Philippines and Asia.
During his speech the Mayor thanked Goducate for its technical agricultural assistance to the local farmers who are now Goducate collaborators in the planting of hybrid rice. This is the first time that such rice is being planted in this part of the Philippines.
The Founder of Goducate, Paul Choo, told the people that the training center will train Goducate community workers who will be able to help needy Asian rural communities to help themselves.