P13.76 M Worth of Livelihood to be Given Out on Labor Day

Some P13,76 million worth of checks for livelihood assistance will be handed out to local government units and overseas Filipino workers on May 1, a labor official here announced.

Sisinio Cano, regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment, revealed in a press conference that six local government units will receive checks from DOLE Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (DILEEP) under the Bottom Up Budgeting scheme.

The funds, Cano explained, will be used by the beneficiary LGUs to purchase materials that will be distributed as Kabuhayan starter kits for their identified beneficiaries, including informal sector laborers, displaced workers, parents of child laborers and other members of the marginalized sector.

To be handed out to local chief executives at the Labor Day celebration at the KCC Mall of Gensan on Monday are checks for P8.5 million for General Santos City and P663,000 for Lake Sebu in South Cotabato.

In North Cotabato, LGU Antipas will receive P1.499 M, LGU Kabacan, P1.35 M and LGU Banisilan, P500,000. LGU Bagumbayan in Sultan Kudarat will get P1 M. Besides the LGUs, DOLE XII will also turn over starter kits worth P250,000 to OFW beneficiaries being assisted by the National Reintegration Center for OFWs XII.

“Upon submission of proposals, the local government units included a list of intended beneficiaries who they have vetted for the livelihood assistance,” Director Cano explained. DOLE XII, along with the Public Employment Service Officers of the beneficiary LGU, will monitor the distribution of the livelihood packages to the beneficiaries.

PESOs will also assist the LGUs for the immediate liquidation of the funds downloaded to them, Cano added. Livelihood projects requested by most beneficiaries are eateries, rice cake vending, balut vending, kakanin vending, hair dressing and nail care, sewing, poultry raising, hog raising and similar small businesses.

For 2017, DOLE XII has earmarked P85.938 M for DILEEP. (DEDoguiles-PIA12)