CARD MRI tours Media in San Pablo

Posted on August 10, 2022

CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI), after a successful Media Lakbay Aral in Tagum City, brings the study-tour program back to San Pablo City, Laguna on July 28 to 29, 2022.

With the aim of introducing more of CARD MRI’s community development efforts and its institutions, the microfinance organization invites media practitioners for a one-day tour, giving its participants the opportunity to interact and ask questions to the people making up the microfinance organization.

For this Media Lakbay-Aral, media participants are not only introduced to the grass-roots operation of CARD MRI’s financial institutions, but also given a historical and meaningful tour of CARD MRI’s hometown. Hosted by CARD MRI Hijos Tours, CARD MRI’s Tour Company, the tour goes to San Pablo City’s must-visit spots. The tour also includes a food tour that boasts a dish unique only to the City of Seven Lakes.

The study-tour program is attended by: Rosalinda Dimaisip (Columnist at Philippine Herald News Expose), Maria Dona Carabio-Aranguren (Publisher of Laguna Courier), Susan Crisostomo (Publisher of Laguna Express), Jessica Cabactulan (Publisher of Ronda Balita), Joel Cabactulan (Associate Publisher at Ronda Balita), Carmi Isles (Correspondent of Radyo Pilipinas Lucena), Sean Austin Raffio (Correspondent the Daily Guardian), Ma. Carla Natividad (Correspondent of Balitang Hilaga), and Jamaica Barbas (Correspondent of Luzon News Correspondent).

Center Meetings

To start the study-tour program, the participants are given an in-depth experience at one of CARD MRI’s center meetings, in this case are two centers of CARD Bank, namely Tranca Center-1 of Brgy. Tranca, Bay, Laguna, and SKMD 1 of Daniw, Victoria, Laguna. In these meetings, the agendas, announcements, and other helpful information are disseminated to the members of the said centers. Besides the announcements, attendees of the center meeting experienced the Credit with Education (CwE), a lesson that tackles topics on health, enterprise development, financial literacy, and disaster preparedness, valuable information for the benefit of CARD MRI members.

The media participants are also introduced to two members of CARD Bank. In these brief meetings, the clients share their stories of inspiration and hope and how has CARD Bank helped them in establishing their success. These members are Victoria Gubuat De Torres, a landscaping business owner, shared how she managed to cultivate her business and Norma Alcrates, a buko pie business owner, and her story of enticing story of success.

CMDI Campus Tour

After the participants’ immersion to the CARD MRI’s center meetings, they are given a tour around the campus of CARD MRI Development Institute – Bay Campus. Giving a brief history of the humble beginnings of CMDI, the campus tour also highlights the different facilities and courses offered by the institution.

Starting as CARD MRI’s training facility for its staff, CMDI Bay Campus now offers Senior Highschool Programs such as the Accountancy, Business, and Management (ABM) and Techno-Vocational-Livelihood Track. The campus also offers Baccalaureate Programs for incoming college students with courses such as Bachelor of Science in Accountancy (BSA), Bachelor of Science in Information System (BSIS), and Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management (BSTM).

Hijos de Siete Lagos

To give the participants a change of scenery and a breath of fresh air, Hijos Tours took the study-tour program around San Pablo City’s renowned sites to visit. Hijos de Siete Lagos introduces the vibrant and rich history and culture of San Pablo City as it walks through some of its historical landmarks such as the Parish of St. Paul the First Hermit and Sampaloc Lake.

The tour also highlights one of San Pablo’s unique dishes, the Pancit Kalabuko. Born from a farmer’s unique expression of love for his wife, the dish includes three ingredients that separates it from the traditional Pancit and where it got its unique name. The dish includes mushrooms (or kabute in Filipino, where the syllable ka comes from), squash (or kalabasa, for la) and coconut (buko) meat.

A live demonstration was performed by Joselito Frago of Forest Wood Garden for the media participants. Joselito, together with his wife Myrna Frago, built up Forest Wood Garden as members of CARD MRI.

Hijos Tours also offers tours and services. Their tours include the cities of Iloilo (Hijos de los Rios), Davao (Hijos de las Aguilas), Leyte-Samar (Hijos de las Campanas) and Baguio (Hijos de las Montañas).

Inside CARD MRI

Completing the study-program tour is a media briefing held with various CARD MRI institutional heads. The briefing aims to further introduce CARD MRI and its institutions and how, as an organization, it takes a holistic approach towards poverty eradication. The briefing also opened the floor for the media practitioners to ask questions with answers that the public may find informational.

Attending the media briefing are CARD MRI’s CARD Bank Regional Director Venancio C. Elaurza, CARD Bank Assistant Vice President for Operations Medy Valenzuela, CARD Bank Vice President for Operations Glenda Magpantay, CARD, Inc. Regional Director Rex M. Mayol. CARD SME Bank Regional Director Jelyn Maranan, CARD Rizal Bank, Inc. Regional Director Ruby Suministrado, CMDI Instructor Rose Catapang, CMDI Deputy Director for Training Marwin Mira, CARD MBA Deputy Director for Operations Joyce Alimagno, CARD MBA Luzon 8 Cluster OIC Jean Rosalie Llamas, CARD MBA Claims Manager Aileen Barrera, CARD MBA Senior Operations Director Oliver Reyes, and CARD Publishing Deputy Director Cyrene Grace Lubigan, and CARD MRI officers and staff.

“This is a day packed with wonderful experiences. Everything about CARD MRI had been introduced clearly. The community established at CARD is what the whole nation needs – with integrity, humility, and excellence. May these kinds of programs continue to exist,” Carmi Isles, a correspondent of Radyo Pilipinas – Lucena, on her up close experience with CARD MRI.

“To be able to host and tour our media friends here in San Pablo will always be a wonderful experience. It is through our shared belief, proper information dissemination, that we can establish a strong bond. We believe that it is essential in moving towards a better tomorrow,” Marilyn Manila, CARD MRI Publishing House President.

CARD MRI is expected to hold two Media Lakbay-Aral in Visayas and Northern Part of Luzon for the last two quarters of the year.