TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Mayor Darwin Estrañero and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)-Kalinga chief Avelina Manganip led today the awarding of sewing equipment and materials to 19 beneficiaries from Tabuk City.
The livelihood assistance was requested by Mayor Estrañero through Senator JV Ejercito and was granted under the DOLE’s Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP), which targets vulnerable and marginalized workers.
Public Employment Service Office head Loyda Saboy said the beneficiaries include seamstresses who could not afford to buy their own equipment as well as those who had worn down or broken equipment to help them continue their livelihood.
Each of the beneficiaries received a unit of sewing machine along with a package of threads, needles, scissors, chalk, measuring tapes, measuring sticks, and other sewing tools and materials to complete the livelihood kit worth around Php 20,000.
“Dakayu ti nangdawat kadagituy machines, and we hope and pray nga talaga nga usaren yu dagituy,” Manganip told the beneficiaries during the awarding ceremony, adding that monitoring will be done to ensure that the equipment are used as intended.
Mayor Estrañero, who relayed his message through his executive assistant Mr. Henry Gupaal, urged the beneficiaries to make good use of the livelihood package to earn extra income.
In an interview, one of the beneficiaries, Juliet Gaddao, 53, shared that she and her husband both sew for a living and worked at tailoring shops on a ‘pordiya’ basis as they did not have their own equipment. She said she was happy to receive the livelihood package as it will help augment their income.
Mayor Estrañero said he will be writing to Senator Ejercito and the DOLE Secretary to thank them for granting the city’s request.