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| DOLE Regional Office No. 8 recently provided 5.2 million pesos in livelihood assistance to over 150 PCLs in Catbalogan City and Biliran province. PHOTO: DOLE-8/Facebook |
TACLOBAN CITY – In its efforts to combat and prevent child labor in the region, the DOLE Regional Office No. 8 recently provided 5.2 million pesos in livelihood assistance to more than 150 parents of child laborers (PCLs) in Catbalogan City and the province of Biliran.
Over 100 identified PCLs have already received their respective livelihood starter kits as part of an initial turnover program spearheaded by the city government unit of Catbalogan and the DOLE Samar Field Office (SFO) led by Engr. Aleksei Ceasar D. Abellar. The 4.8 million pesos DOLE grant to the city will benefit a total of 160 PCLs, according to the approved project proposal.
Catbaloganon beneficiaries expressed their gratitude for the assistance received and couldn't help but express it through their handwritten poster to DOLE and the LGU. According to them, the kabuhayan starter kits will significantly assist their families in coping with the pandemic.
Carpentry, fishing, small transport, motor parts shop, food vending, frozen and fresh food vending, and other livelihood projects were handed over to beneficiaries on January 11 and 12, 2022.
Meanwhile, on January 12, 2022, the DOLE Biliran Field Office (BFO) awarded P450,647 in livelihood assistance to 19 PCLs from the municipalities of Naval, Cabucgayan, and Culaba.
Rice retailing, dressmaking, commercial cooking, cafeteria, and fishing are among the projects recognized in BFO.
Ms. Cristina T. Longjas, Head of BFO, stated that the livelihood projects were designed to assist families in ensuring that their children do not return to the yoke of child labor.
"Our assistance doesn’t end in child labor profiling. Through provision of livelihood projects, we see hope that children will no longer be engaged in any form of child labor," Longjas stated.
Imelda Codilan, BFO livelihood focal, Maila De Guia, representing Catbalogan Mayor Uy, and SFO staff Ms. Karen Joan L. Libres, Ma. Chulla Corpuz, and Aminah Kay Sao were also present during the separate turnover programs.
Beneficiaries of the approved grants were drawn from previous years' child labor profiling activities carried out by field offices under DOLE's Child Labor Prevention and Elimination Program. (Source: DOLE-8/PRESS RELEASE)