The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has distributed a total of P31,461,051 to the Indigenous People (IP) in Cagayan Valley region in a move for them to avail government programs that include their livelihood.
On data forwarded to Manila Bulletin on Tuesday, Sept. 13, the DOLE-Regional Office 2 said thousands of IPs had already benefited from the flagship programs of the government through the DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP); Government Internship Program (GIP); Emergency Employment Program/ Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD); Child Labor Prevention and Elimination Program (CLPEP); and the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) program.
In DOLE-Nueva Vizcaya Field Office (NVFO) alone, at least 6,734 IP individuals had benefited from the recent distribution of grants in the province of Nueva Vizcaya.
The DOLE NVFO converged with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) in a two-day activity from August 25 to 26 to foster healing and reconciliation with IPs.
At least 300 IP leaders, youths, and National Government Agencies (NGA) attended the activity dubbed “Healing, Reconciliation, and Operationalizing the 11 Building Blocks in the Ancestral Domain in support to the Whole of Government/Whole of Nation Approach by Empowering the FRs, IP Youth/IP Eps, and IP Leaders Workshop”.
DOLE NVFO Officer-in-charge, Provincial Director Elizabeth U. Martinez said they also distributed starter kit projects in form of tools and equipment to four former rebels from Villaverde and Bagabag town in Nueva Vizcaya amounting to P80,000.
“Issues and concerns of IPs from the aforementioned provinces were discussed, in line with the government’s goal of eliminating the threat of Communist Terrorist Groups (CTGs), particularly among the IPs in far-flung and hard-to-reach areas,” said Martinez.
Under the TUPAD program, a total of 6,030 IP beneficiaries in Kayapa, Ambaguio, Alfonso Castañeda, Bambang, and Kasibu town were provided with emergency employment amounting to P30,365,432. While 50 interns in Nueva Vizcaya were employed in the GIP platform with a total salary of P1,015,619.
Martinez said a total of 168 IP child laborers were also profiled in the towns of Diadi, Bayombong, Solano, and Bambang. Parents of the kid workers were given livelihood packages under the CLPEP platform.