DAVAO DEL NORTE, June 24 (PIA) – The provincial field office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is among the agencies which has immediately provided assistance to the rescued Indigenous People (IP) children and their families.
This was revealed by Davao del Norte Field Office (DNFO) Community Facilitator, Dave Andrie Villegas, during Kapihan sa DavNor on June 23.
He said that after profiling the children and their parents, “ang inisyal dayun nga gihatag ni DOLE is ang food packs and rice assistance (DOLE initially gave food packs and rice assistance).”
In addition, the parents of the children were immediately listed as beneficiaries for TUPAD (Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa ating Displaced or Disadvantaged Workers), DOLE’s emergency employment program that goes for 10-15 days with 396 per day salary.
For long term, Villegas said that a livelihood program worth P30k was also given to each of the 15 families in order to address their poverty, which has been one of the main factors why some of the IPs are recruited by the rebellious groups.
To further address this, DOLE also aims to provide assistance to the entire Sitio Kamingawan community, the sitio where the families of the IP children are from.
In addition, DOLE works with other National Government Agencies (NGAs) and Local Government Units (LGUs) in helping the IPs achieve self-reliance through the conduct of trainings and skills development programs.
The responses of the beneficiaries have been positive. Villegas said that while speaking with the IP beneficiaries on how they feel about the government’s help, they said that they are now feeling the presence of the government and that they are in a much better situation compared to being in the rebellion.
The assistance and interventions given by DOLE to the rescued IP children is in line with the agency’s fight against child labor as the World Day Against Child Labor is celebrated yearly in every month of June. (Jan Vincent Leuterio/PIA-XI)
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