The National Coordinating Council

Candidates to fill the 17 positions in the National Coordinating Council are elected during Congress, from the barangay, municipal, provincial and regional members. It is responsible for selecting the National Executive Committee (EXECOM) from among its members

The National Coordinating Council oversees the management of PATAMABA and meets every quarter. It functions as the governing body of the organization for policy-making, planning and implementation. It represents the organization in conferences/seminars/
meetings/joint consultations, and monitors and evaluates members’ activities and projects.

The current National Coordinating Council consists of the following:

The PATAMABA National Council members, all of them with a background in homebased work, come from various occupations and provinces.

A number of them (Antonina Tina, Lourdes Gula, and Maria de Los Santos) used to be subcontracted sewers/embroiderers for the garments industry in Bulacan and Rizal provinces. One (Juliana Canta) used to be a subcontracted papier mache worker supplying exporters from the province of Laguna, but now runs a small fishpond and variety store in her community; another (Primar Jardeleza) used to be in dried fish production in her home province of Iloilo and became a bamboo weaver and daycare worker when she moved to the province of Bataan. Many are self-employed: Nida Antonio produces lace, potholders, slippers, cushion covers, and novelty items together with other chapter members in her community in Balingasa, Quezon City; Linda Fantone from Zambales used to be engaged in rattan basket-weaving but is now into bamboo-torch making; so is Vic Arsenal, the only male National Council member and former factory worker who hails from Balingasa, Quezon City who is right now engaged in slipper making; . Engelberta Jabonan from Davao combines sewing bags with making slippers and weaving mats, while at the same time serving as barangay health worker and manager of their community cooperative.

A number are into food production and processing: Maria Nebla is into molo ball (meat dumpling) production, and she has trained many of her members in Iloilo in this livelihood; Melania Enriquez from Bulacan is leading her community in organic vegetable farming; and Marcelina Silvestre from Tarlac is into farming and livestock-raising;

Congress

This is an assembly of all PATAMABA members. Congress is held every three years during which members of the National Coordinating Council are elected based on established criteria. The majority of the members of the various coordinating councils attend this assembly.