Bohol starts ‘cash-for-work’ program

TAGBILARAN CITY — Bohol Governor Arthur Yap has initiated a “cash-for-work” program for farmers and others who lost their jobs, while waiting for the health crisis to blow over.

Yap said that the program started this week after he visited the irrigator groups and other beneficiaries who would work at the communal irrigation system (CIS) areas in Loboc, Bilar, Lila, Dimiao and Valencia.

The cash-for-work program is being implemented through the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) that targeted some 3,500 beneficiaries from 50 irrigator associations in the province with an allocation of two million pesos through the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC).

The funding will be drawn from the “We Survive as One Bohol Fund,” a 150-million stimulus package addressing the cross-section socioeconomic impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.

The cash-for-work program prioritizes those who have lost jobs or whose livelihood were lost due to the pandemic that forced the closure of none essential establishments.

The work involves the clearing and grubbing along irrigation canals, restoration of canal embankment, back-filing and shaping up of canal section, brushing of main and lateral canals, and de-siltation of canal waterways.

Yap visited the cash-for-work sites in barangays Jimilian and Gotozon in Loboc, Yanaya and Bugang Sur in Bilar, Lomanoy in Lila, and in Dimiao and Valencia towns.

The canal in Lomanoy gets water flowing from the Catugasan CIS, which serves 35 riceland hectares from Catugasan, to Lomanoy and Tiguis.

In Dimiao, the farmers would complete clearing and grubbing along irrigation canals of the Korimo CIS, which serves 19.5 hectares. Yap also visited Valencia’s Simang Balingasaw CIS and Monia CIS, both serving a total of 192 hectares.