TACLOBAN CITY — The Department of Labor and Employment-Southern Leyte Field Office (DOLE-SLFO) distributed livelihood assistance worth P330,000.00 to eleven skilled workers in Brgy. Hilaan, Bontoc, Southern Leyte, on March 2, 2023.
The beneficiaries were graduates of Carpentry and Bread and Pastry courses of the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA), which is a member agency of the Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC) under the Poverty Reduction, Livelihood and Employment Cluster (PRLEC).
Seven of the beneficiaries received tools and equipment for their carpentry and masonry projects, while four received ovens with gas tanks and wheat flour to start their bread and pastry business. One of the beneficiaries expressed gratitude after receiving the assistance, saying, "Nagpasalamat mi sa among nadawat karon gikan sa DOLE. Amo ni gamiton sakto ug ampingan."
Brgy. Hilaan, along with other upland barangays in Bontoc, namely Hitawos, Pamigsian, and Olisihan, has been identified as a PRLEC area lacking access to basic community services. The government agencies' convergence aims to alleviate poverty in these barangays and free them from the vulnerability of getting into the communist side.
Present during the turnover ceremony were Bontoc Mayor Noel A. Alinsub, 2Lt. John Carlo Aloña of the 14th Infantry Battalion (Avengers), Labor and Employment Officer III Ma. Dahlia A. Gabriana, TESD Specialist I Christian Dominick Renomeron, MLGOO Glenda Alipao, and Barangay Captain Janice Mara Tambis.
The DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program funds released to Bontoc during the Sectoral Dialogue last November 16, 2022, will finance another turnover activity scheduled for the P510,000.00 worth of livelihood projects intended for the beneficiaries of other recipient barangays.
As a member of the task force's PRLEC, DOLE aims to push "self-reliant, productive, resilient, and sustainable communities" in the countryside through a whole-of-nation convergence and good governance approach. —iTacloban (Source: DOLE)