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Food-for-work program provides relief to Ilocano housewives

By Leilanie Adriano

August 8, 2017, 7:04 pm

Residents help clean up roads in Ilocos Norte

 

LAOAG CITY, Aug. 8—Raquel Obrero, a housewife from Barangay 17, Sarrat town, was trying to stretch her budget for food when she was asked by village officials to help clean the village road and waterways of scattered plastic materials and fallen leaves.

After a few hours, she was handed a box filled with canned goods, rice, coffee and other goods courtesy of the local government unit of Sarrat.

Obrero is just one of the hundreds of beneficiaries of the food-for-work program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in partnership with the local government unit here.

The continuing implementation of the DSWD’s cash-for-work or food-for-work programs applies to victims of typhoon in previous years.

The program allows beneficiaries to render community service in their barangay or village in exchange for food or cash based on the prevailing regional wage in their area.

Some of these community projects include cleaning of roads, collecting garbage and repairing community facilities, among others. According to Obrero, this is a great help for them as they have no stable source of income.

The government’s cash-for-work program is being implemented in the province to generate more employment among Ilocanos.

Last year, the DSWD allocated about Php15 million for this purpose. Since the implementation of the program, over 15,000 beneficiaries who are in need of additional income were hired by the provincial government and local government units here to plant indigenous and fruit-bearing trees in public lots especially those who are near the river banks and mountains from the Badoc gateway to the northern most part of Pagudpud town. (PNA)

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