SUSTAINABLE livelihood assistance is one of the huge factors in achieving peace and in making former rebels trust the government again, a trade official said.
“First, we must really change their mindset. What they usually think is that they don’t get anything from the government that’s why they become rebels. With the program we have through consultation, trainings, and distribution of starter kits, they were able to realize that the government is serious in providing their needs,” Edwin Banquerigo, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) assistant regional director, said.
The Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-Clip), a livelihood seeding program for former rebels, aims to assist them and their families by providing them with opportunities. The program has two components: basic entrepreneurial and skills training, and provision of starter kits packages.
Banquerigo said the starter kit packages include sari-sari store, hogs distribution, and seedling distribution.
Last July 2018, around 241 former rebels under the E-Clip were awarded in Mati City, Davao Oriental by the inter-agency Task Force Balik-Loob (TFBL).
The former rebels received livelihood and immediate assistance checks and firearms remuneration from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), cash assistance for business starter kits worth P4.76 million from the Department of Labor and Employment, and completion certificates for NC-II technical/vocational skills training from the Technical Education and Skills Development Agency.
Based from DTI’s records for the E-Clip, the program awarded around 300 former rebels, which was more than a hundred of the project’s target for Davao Region.
“At the end of the day, we observed them (former rebels) being happy. And really if they can implement what they have learned through the program, we feel we can lead them live better lives,” Banquerigo said.