94 underprivileged families get livelihood utility kits from DOLE-9

COTABATO CITY — The Department of Labor and Employment in Region 9 on Wednesday provided 94 marginalized families in Lakewood, Zamboanga del Sur with utility kits for income-generating projects.

The starter kits, costing P2.7 million pesos, are comprised of basic tools for carpentry, electrical, mechanical and farming works.

Miraflor Casanes, DOLE provincial director for Zamboanga del Sur, said on Thursday that the distribution of the kits is part of the government’s socio-economic interventions meant to boost the productivity of impoverished families in the provinces.

Casanes said the 94 families that received utility kits are from Barangays Baking, Dagum, Biswangan, Gasa, Poblacion and Sapang Pinoles in the upland Lakewood town in Zamboanga del Sur.

Casanes said that they also have continuing skills and livelihood education programs, being implemented along with other government agencies, for marginalized families and workers in Zamboanga del Sur.

Radio reports in Cotabato and in Pagadian City on Thursday said among the beneficiaries of the latest DOLE-9 utility kit dispersal activity are families from Lakewood’s local indigenous community relying mainly on small-scale propagation of short-term crops as source of income.

Last October 17, Casanes, along with other DOLE-9 Zamboanga del Sur provincial employees, turned over P463,200 worth of check to a group of 120 beneficiaries in Kumalarang town of the department’s Tulong Panghanap Buhay Para sa Ating Displaced Workers, most known as the TUPAD Program.

The TUPAD Program is a community-based assistance initiative for displaced, or underemployed, or seasonal workers.

Casanes and her subordinates also distributed then P997,760 for livelihood utility kits for 40 skilled workers in Kumalarang.

Kumalarang Mayor Ruel Molina was quoted in reports by radio stations and provincial newspapers as saying that he is thankful to DOLE-9 Zamboanga del Sur provincial office and the department’s regional director for Region 9, Albert Gutib for providing his constituents with essential livelihood packages.