EIGHTEEN residents of Isabela City in Basilan province started to venture their own livelihood with the support of the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) Integrated Livelihood Program.
Each of the 18 received livelihood starter kits after they attended an entrepreneurship and financial literacy seminar on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, facilitated by the Public Employment Service Office (Peso) of Isabela City.
Lawyer Roy Buenafe, DOLE regional director, said Saturday that the DOLE’s Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP) is a grant assistance for capacity-building on livelihood provided for the working poor, vulnerable and marginalized workers.
“The livelihood assistance enables the eligible beneficiaries to start their individual or group enterprise of their chosen project. The DOLE provides the tools and jigs to make this project possible along with capacity building,” Buenafe said.
Maria Elena Alabata, DOLE Isabela City Field Office chief, said that 14 of the 18 livelihood starter kits’ recipients are fishermen, while the rest are parents of child laborers.
“The beneficiaries were given starter kits according to their skills. We released kits for carpentry, food processing and dressmaking. This also includes Group Personal Accident Insurance (GPAI) for one year,” Alabata added.
Aradelria Belleng, Isabela City Peso manager, said the entrepreneurship and financial literacy aims to equip program beneficiaries with basic concepts and principles on how to improve their income and how to manage their finances.
During the seminar, Belleng discussed the basic concepts and principles of Financial Management, Financial Security and Elevating Entrepreneurial kits.
She said that the learning session aims to put an emphasis on the significance of having a clear family budget, saving habits as key to financial freedom, and ways to improve their products in the local market.
Manuel Sebastian, one of the beneficiaries from Purok 2 in Calvario village, Isabela City, shared his sincere thanks and gratitude to DOLE for the livelihood assistance given to him.
“Thank you so much DOLE for the assistance. I will now be able to augment my income for my family,” Sebastian said. (SunStar Zamboanga)