Prominent Negrenses elected to PRRM National Board

Two current and former public officials in the province were recently nominated and elected into the National Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), the oldest primary NGO in the country.

Elected during PRRM’ s 72nd Anniversary and National Council meeting on July 18, 2024 in Quezon City were Negros Occidental 3rd District Congressman Francisco “Kiko” Benitez, and former Kabankalan City Vice Mayor and provincial board member Raul Rivera.

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

Other former public officials elected in the BOT were former Congressman 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 Cong. Kiko Benitez and Mayor Albee Benitez of Bacolod City.

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

PRRM has been in the forefront of efforts to uplift the rural poor and to build sustainable development in various areas of the country. In Negros Occidental, PRRM is focused 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 was the local implementing NGO partner of the NGOs for Fisheries Reform ( NFR) for its previous Fish Right and current INSPIRE programs, both of which were 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 in the three provinces of Negros Occidental, Iloilo and Guimaras, possibly the largest small fishers network in the Visayas.* (Hazel Aghon, PRRM-Negros Secretariat)