GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Region 12 will release around P12.7 million worth of livelihood assistance to disadvantaged workers in different parts of the region as the country marks Labor Day on Tuesday.
Sisinio Cano, DOLE-12 regional director, said Monday at least 16 workers' groups and local government units (LGUs) will receive livelihood packages and financial assistance under the agency's flagship DOLE Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (Dileep).
Cano said the 10 of the recipients are from North Cotabato, three from Sultan Kudarat, two from Cotabato City, and one from this city.
The grants will be released during the 2018 Trabaho, Negosyo at Kabuhayan job and business fairs and Labor Day celebration slated on Tuesday, May 1, at the trade halls of the SM mall here.
"These are material and financial grants for various livelihood ventures or projects," the official said.
Cano said the recipients were identified through assessments conducted by their field offices in the region and partner-LGUs.
Under the program, he said the livelihood ventures were chosen by the recipients based on their capabilities, skills and available support resources, and eventually assessed and endorsed by the agency.
Beneficiaries from North Cotabato will get the bulk of the grants with P10.04 million, followed by those in Sultan Kudarat with P1.25 million, this city with P930, 255 and Cotabato City with P515,088.
In North Cotabato, the approved livelihood projects are for customized shirt printing, rice retailing, coconut-based products processing, rug weaving, pottery and bricks making, and ornamental and herbal gardening project.
Barangay Poblacion 1 of Midsayap town, Barangay Inas of M'lang and the municipal government of Alamada and Pigcawayan will receive financial grants for livelihood starter kits.
A teachers group in Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat will put up a tailoring and dress shop while Barangay Kadi of Senator Ninoy Aquino town and Barangay New Panay of Esperanza will get grants for livelihood starter kits.
Two workers' groups in Cotabato City will receive assistance for brassware making and consumer store projects while a group tricycle operators and drivers in Barangay Calumpang here will put up a motor parts store and repair shop. (PNA)
