13 distressed OFWs get livelihood aid in Soccsksargen

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — At least 13 distressed Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Region 12 (Soccsksargen) received livelihood assistance from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) over the weekend.

Kristine Marie Sison, OWWA-12 officer-in-charge, said Monday the assistance was released under the Livelihood Development Assistance Program (LDAP) of the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), an agency attached to OWWA.

Sison said the beneficiaries received livelihood starter kits or packages worth PHP10,000 each for various small business ventures, mostly for rice trading or retailing.

Sison said the release of the livelihood grants aims to help returning OFWs cope with their reintegration process.

“The agency is continuously implementing various livelihood assistance programs to assist our distressed or displaced OFWs in the entire region,” she said in a statement.

Formerly known as the 10K Livelihood Assistance Program, LDAP seeks to assist returning distressed and undocumented displaced OFWs. Qualified returning OFWs may avail of assistance for livelihood projects such as sari-sari stores, beauty parlor, rice trading, machine shop, furniture making, among others.

Jeanette Escaño, OWWA-NRCO regional coordinator, said the beneficiaries were undocumented OFWs who returned to the country in the last three years.

Under the law, Escaño said undocumented OFWs are those who acquired their passports through fraud or misrepresentation, those who possess expired visa or permits to stay, those who have no travel documents, those who have valid but inappropriate visa and those whose employment contracts were not processed by concerned government agencies.

Prior to the release of the assistance, she said the beneficiaries were required to undergo small business management training and financial awareness seminar to properly prepare them for their chosen enterprises.

“This is to ensure that their businesses will be sustained and also prosper,” Escaño said. (PNA)