SABLAN, Benguet – The Cordillera office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE-CAR) committed to provide some PhP5 million for the municipal government that will be used for the implementation of the government’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay Para sa Disadvantaged or Displaced Workers (TUPAD) and livelihood programs for individuals and associations in the different parts of the municipality.
DOLE-CAR regional director Nathaniel Lacambra, who served as one of the town’s guest of honor and speaker during the 10th Fruit festival float parade last Sep. 9, said that PhP3 million will be used as livelihood assistance for individuals and groups while PhP2 million will be for the hiring of emergency workers to do important works under the TUPAD program.
One of the major highlights of the 20th Sablan Fruit Festival was the conduct of the float parade along the Baguio-Bauang national highway from the weighbridge up to the municipal gymnasium where the eight beautifully-decorated floats presented by the different barangays were showcased.
Lacambra lauded the ongoing efforts to aggressively promote the municipality as the fruit basket of Benguet with the increased supply of various fruits that are grown in the locality such as durian, marang, rambutan, lanzones, among others that will contribute in spurring the socio-economic growth of the municipality.
The DOLE-CAR official lauded the municipal officials for sustaining the town’s thriving fruit industry that will serve as the town’s major economic driver in the future.
However, Lacambra warned the municipal government against the possibility of over development in the future as there is a need for local officials to continue striking a balance between agriculture and industry to be able to maintain the town’s good state of the environment.
According to him, the municipal government must be ready to face the challenges with the projected influx of development in the different parts of the municipality to ensure the needed balance between development and the environment so that Sablan can maintain and even elevate to a higher level its thriving fruit industry that allowed the town to establish its identity as the province’s fruit basket.
For his part, Mayor Alfredo Dacumos, Jr. expressed the heartfelt gratitude of the people and officialdom of Sablan to Director Lacambra for the committed funds for livelihood projects and the hiring of emergency workers to perform the needed hard work, especially during incidents of natural disaster, among others.
Dacumos claimed that the funds for TUPAD will be used to hire workers to facilitate the repair of water lines, clear the clogged drainages in the different barangays, among others, and that their work will not be confined to clean up activities like what had been happening in the past.
The mayor said that the municipal government will work out the utilization of the committed funds and try to work out separate requests in the future once there is a need to access funding from the labor department and other concerned government agencies. By Dexter A. See
