by Brent M. Bravo

Cagayan de Oro City (28 January) -- A NEWLY constructed wheelchair production center and orthopedic and distribution unit in Mindanao is set to be inaugurated for the benefit of the handicapped.

The Handicap International (HI), a non-government and non-profit international organization, in cooperation with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will formally launch its "Wheelchairs in Mindanao" project on February 3 at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Sta. Cruz, Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.

Expected to grace the event and give key messages are U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Francis J. Ricciardone, Secretary Jesus G. Dureza of the Mindanao Economic Development Council, provincial and city officials led by Gov. Oscar S. Moreno and Mayor Vicente Y. Emano, HI representatives, and special guests.

HI-Philippines Program Director Benjamin Gobin will lead in welcoming the invited guests, while Wheelchairs in Mindanao Project Manager Floriano Aranaz will give a presentation of the project.

The "Wheelchairs in Mindanao" project -- the creation of the wheelchair production center and the orthopedic and distribution unit, is the most recent undertaking of the HI and USAID, in local partnership with non-government organizations in the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Bislig, Cotabato, Davao, and Zamboanga.

HI has its headquarters in Lyons, France. It has offices in Luxemburg, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, and the USA. It is founded on the value of solidarity as expressed in the ideas of mutual aid, brotherhood, justice and impartiality, with a commitment to equalization of opportunity.