Displaced workers heavily relying on tourism like “habal-habal” drivers and resort employees in the Island Garden City of Samal (IGaCoS) will be provided with free skills training to help them recover from job loss, the Department of Labor and Employment said Saturday.
Skills training on sustainable income-generating business or craft such as floriculture will be provided to workers displaced due to the closure of tourism amid the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the department, the DoLE-Davao regional office adopted the Caring for Retrenched Employees in Service Sector (CARESS) program to help workers in the tourism industry and retrenched employees recover from job loss by providing them training to engage in alternative jobs.
"This will provide training and starter kits for those who want to be floriculturists, plumbers, carpenters, welders, hollow block makers, and many more," said officer-in-charge Leo Ariel Pepino of the DoLE satellite office on the island.
Regional Director Ofelia Domingo said the project will contribute to the livelihood sustainability of the beneficiaries and help boost the economy of Samal.
"We envision CARESS to empower the locals in transforming Samal Island as the flower capital of the Davao region, or even of Mindanao," Domingo said, adding that the Island Garden City of Samal should have a garden as part of its tourist attraction.
An initial funding of P1.5 million has been released to the local government of IGACOS to start the project.
A Workers Development Training Center will also established in the city to serve as a showroom for all the products and crafts of local workers, a plant nursery, and an area for the permanent DOLE 11 IGACOS Satellite Office to closely monitor the project’s implementation.