OROQUIETA CITY, Misamis Occidental (PIA)–Twenty parents of child laborers from different barangays of Oroquieta City received livelihood starter kits worth P20,000 each from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)-X thru its Misamis Occidental Provincial Field Office (Mis. Occ. PFO) at Barangay Taboc Norte covered court, here.
DOLE, as the lead agency of the Philippine Program against Child Labor and National Child Committee conducted the 2018 and 2019 Profiling of Child Laborers under the Administrative Order No. 142 series of 2018, the Guidelines on the Profiling of Child Laborers and Provision of Services to remove them from Child Labor as part of the implementation of the five-year Philippine Program against Child Labor in the year 2017-2022.
DOLE-X Mis. Occ. PFO Chief Leonardo G. Rodrigo said the grant was released under the Kabuhayan Program of DOLE Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (DILEEP) that provides assistance for capacity-building on livelihood and entrepreneurial ventures for the 20 parents of child laborers profiled in the year 2018.
Some 10 parent-beneficiaries opted to venture on rice trading project, six are into swine fattening and four into sari-sari store.
A mother of a 16-year-old construction worker, Marlyn Manlawe, 38, from Purok-6, Mobod, Oroquieta City, expressed how grateful she was of the grant, “Gipa-undang na nko akong anak sa pag-trabaho kay kaning abot nako sa bugas, makatabang na sa among gastohonon sa balay (I let my son stop his work since my earnings from rice business can now sustain our needs at home).”
Manlawe added that she can now buy food for their daily needs from her profit. Such does not only save her son from an exhausting job as the assistance also helped their family financially.
“I am very thankful to DOLE and to the personnel who worked behind this,” Manlawe said.
Another parent-beneficiary, Vanessa Talaogon said the livelihood project is not only beneficial for the members and the neighborhood needing rice and basic household items like groceries especially at this time of pandemic when they do not have to go to the public market or grocery stores.
For his part, Oroquieta City Councilor Noel B. Undag, Sr. extended his gratitude to DOLE-X for its continuing support and provision of livelihood financial assistance in developing sustainable enterprises as proactive support to generate income through wage and self-employment.
Rodrigo challenged and encouraged the parents of the child laborers to give value and make good use of their profit for them to have sustainable incomes that can support needs of family and to cull out their children from the streets.
“Parents are potential factors in eliminating child labor by shifting their mindsets knowing a better place for their children, support them to be in school and not on the streets,” Rodrigo said. (DOLEX/PIA10)
