Negros officials elected to PRRM National Board

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD CITY – Two current and former public officials from Negros Occidental were recently nominated and elected to the National Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), the oldest primary NGO in the country.

A press statement from the PRRM local chapter on Tuesday said that Negros Occidental 3rd District Representative Francisco “Kiko” Benitez and former Kabankalan City Vice Mayor and provincial board member Raul Rivera were elected during PRRM’s 72nd Anniversary and National Council meeting on July 18, 2024, in Quezon City.

The two were among several political personalities elected to the 15-member PRRM National Board and will serve a three-year term (2024-2027).

Other former public officials elected to the BOT include former lawmaker and Deputy House Speaker Erin Tañada, former Ifugao Congressman and Gov. Teddy Baguilat, and ex-Albay councilor Raul Borejon.

Edicio Dela Torre, former TESDA Director General and Cabinet Secretary, is the current PRRM president.

PRRM was founded in 1952 by a group of renowned Filipino intellectuals, public officials, and industrialists led by Dean Conrado Benitez, grandfather of both Representative Benitez and Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez.

Among other prominent presidents and leaders of PRRM are the late Senators Helena Benitez, Dr. Juan Flavier, and Manuel Manahan. Former Sen. Wigberto Tañada is the current chair emeritus.

PRRM has been at the forefront of efforts to uplift the rural poor and build sustainable development in various areas of the country.

In Negros Occidental, PRRM focuses on sustainable agri-fisheries development, social and environmental reforms, and good participatory governance.

Aside from its rural partners of small farmers and peasant groups, PRRM-Negros promotes Democratic and Sustainable Fisheries (DSF) and is the local implementing NGO partner of the NGOs for Fisheries Reform (NFR) for its previous Fish Right and current INSPIRE programs, both of which are USAID-funded projects.

PRRM-Negros currently partners with the Panay-Negros-Guimaras Crab Fishers Alliance (PANEG-CA), which has more than 100 member people’s organizations spread across the three provinces of Negros Occidental, Iloilo, and Guimaras, possibly the largest small fishers network in the Visayas.