The government is spending P200 million to launch an alternative livelihood program for transport workers who will be affected by the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP), officials announced on Tuesday.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) signed on Tuesday a memorandum of agreement to introduce the Entsuperneur (Driver Entrepreneur) program.
In a nutshell, the program will provide alternative sources of income for 6,333 transport workers who “will be displaced as a result of the local public transport route planning and the route rationalization study.”
The DOTr is utilizing P200 million to enable the DOLE to implement its DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP), which provides grant assistance for capacity building on livelihood and entrepreneurial ventures for vulnerable and marginalized workers.
“We have allotted P200 million for the Entsuperneur program, which will benefit over 6,000 transport workers. Each beneficiary will receive P30,000 that will help them jumpstart their journey as entrepreneurs. We will be providing training, raw materials, and even business monitoring to the beneficiaries,” Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said during a news briefing.
The program essentially provides beneficiaries with working capital in the form of tools, equipment, and raw materials as well as basic training in business planning, entrepreneurship development, bookkeeping, and values formation.
It will also provide micro-insurance via the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), as well as business advisory.
“This is a golden opportunity for those who struggle in life to get better opportunities to improve their lives — just like me,” Tugade said.
Land Transportation Franchising and Development Board (LTFRB) chairman Martin B. Delgra III said this collaboration with DOLE will also “complement” the ongoing Tsuper Iskolar Program as well as the Service Contracting Program of the government.
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III, for his part, said the program “intensifies the efforts in support of the PUVMP as a long-term solution of the national government for the worsening condition of the transport sector.”
“I am very positive that this partnership will be instrumental in improving the economic conditions and welfare of the workers in the transport sector,” he said.
The Entsuperneur program will be funded through the DOTr’s 2021 general budget.