LIVELIHOOD GRANT. Former rebels (FRs) who previously received livelihood assistance from the Department of Labor and Employment in Negros Oriental are now benefiting from it by selling chicken eggs to Army soldiers at a camp where they are staying. The DOLE-Negros Oriental will be distributing this May 2024 more livelihood grants to 14 additional FRs. (PNA file photo courtesy of the 11th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army)
DUMAGUETE CITY – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Negros Oriental is set to distribute livelihood packages to 14 former members of the New People’s Army who have qualified for government assistance, an official said Wednesday.
Engineer Rubie Cempron, Labor Employment Officer III and Livelihood Focal Person of the DOLE-Negros Oriental Field Office, in an interview, said four of them will be receiving their respective packages this month.
These include two from nearby Siquijor province and two from Negros Oriental, who were already enrolled in the Enhanced Comprehensive Livelihood Integrated Program (E-CLIP) for former rebels (FRs).
“Actually, these FRs have complete documents already and an E-CLIP certification, and we have already conducted an orientation for them,” Cempron said.
To be released are a pump boat and fishing nets, cattle, carabao production, and chicken egg layering packages, she added.
Each package costs some PHP30,000 under the DOLE Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (DILEEP).
Cempron said these livelihood packages would augment the income of FRs after they surrendered and returned to mainstream society.
While there is no guarantee that the projects will succeed, the FRs are encouraged to be productive and to ensure that they will benefit from these grants, she said.
During the conduct of project identification, the FRs are asked if they can sustain their preferred projects.
The beneficiaries are not allowed to sell the livelihood grants that they receive from DOLE, Cempron said.
The rest of the FRs will receive their individual livelihood grants by June this year.
Meanwhile, FRs who previously received chicken layering packages through the 11th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in Siaton, Negros Oriental are already reaping benefits, Cempron said.
The eggs are bought by the Army soldiers in the camp where they are staying and some FRs are calling DOLE asking where they could purchase additional chickens to increase egg production, she added. (PNA)
