Davao City – The Davao City government has so far approved the application of almost 60,000 individuals, whose livelihoods were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, for short-term employment assistance.
Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) Commissioner Norman Baloro, also the in-charge of the Davao Special Project Office, said 59,421 individuals became beneficiaries of the different livelihood programs under the government’s employment assistance since the start of the pandemic.
Most of them were recipients of the community work program – ‘Work for Davao’ with 42,915 beneficiaries.
Of the ₱ 172.9 million granted subsidy, ₱ 135.7 million has already been released, while the remaining ₱ 37.2 million is still to be disbursed.
The city government is currently distributing payouts for the remaining regular batches and special batches of the Work for Davao program.
The Davao Special Project Office also logged 30 recipients of the cash assistance from the indigenous groups in Marilog and Paquibato while 40 rebel returnees also received financial aid from the ₱ 1 million project of the #Barangay Ko, Bahay Ko (#BKBK) TUPAD Program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Also, around 95 fisherfolks from the 26 identified barangays in coastal areas were qualified to receive financial assistance from the government.
Aside from the livelihood program, the office has also provided educational assistance from kindergarten to senior high school through the ‘Eskwela Davao Program’ with 23,403 student beneficiaries of the total granted ₱ 53.5 million cash assistance.
A total of 1,472 gadgets were also distributed to qualified students of the ‘Student Siblings’ Laptop & Tablet Sharing Project’ of the Davao City government.
The city government has already released over ₱ 224.1 million in financial assistance from the different sources of funds and projects of the local and national government with ₱ 40 million yet to be distributed to qualified beneficiaries.
Recently, Baloro disclosed that another livelihood program dubbed as ‘Trabaho Dabawenyo’, is set to commence this month, allowing more Dabawenyos to continue work despite the challenges faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are now about to commence Trabaho Dabawenyo, this is still a TUPAD Program under the Department of Labor and Employment, this is in the amount of ₱ 100 million that will commence this May 2021,” Baloro said.
(City Information Office | Michael Manguhig, RPN DXKT Davao OIC)
