Emergency employment for drought-hit farmers

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (PNA) – Some 50 farmers in Sarangani Province, whose livelihood was affected by the prevailing dry spell, have received emergency employment assistance through the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Region 12.

Ofelia Domingo, DOLE Region 12 director, said Wednesday the initiative was part of the continuing rollout in the region of the agency’s “Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers Program–Emergency Employment,” or TUPAD program.

She said the program aims to help workers “displaced by economic crisis, natural calamities and armed conflicts engage in short-term community work to provide them with temporary employment.”

The official said the initial set of beneficiaries were members of the Tapon-Padidu Irrigators Association, Inc. (TPIAI) based in the coastal town of Glan.

She said the provision of the emergency employment was facilitated by DOLE- 12 in coordination with the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA), National Irrigation Administration, and the Tapon and Padidu barangay councils.

“The workers on temporary employment are being utilized in building a dike that will benefit farmers by way of providing water equally to an area of about 40 to 50 hectares,” she said in a statement.

Zeus Ampuyas, TESDA Region 12 director, said they initially provided “employability enhancement trainings” to the beneficiaries.

He said these include upgrading or retooling of skills for masonry, carpentry and other related works.

“We will assess them later on for the possible issuance of second level national certifications (NC II) to allow them to find alternative employment after the completion of the project,” he said.