The Kadiwa ng Pangulo Para sa Manggagawa Program has provided a market linkage for government-assisted farmers’ organizations and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) while workers have availed products sold at reasonable prices.
Around 30 participants consisting of five livelihood projects assisted by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), 11 agricultural cooperatives supported by the Department of Agriculture (DA), and 14 MSMEs that are assisted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) displayed their products as part of the 121st Labor Day celebration held at a mall in Iloilo City.
Lawyer Sixto Rodriguez, DOLE in Western Visayas regional director, said the Labor Day celebration is not just about what the government can do for the people but also for workers helping fellow workers, especially those who are most vulnerable.
“That is why we welcome the Kadiwa ng Pangulo Program, which seeks to support our farmers, our MSMEs, and our other sector who face the greatest challenges. Through Kadiwa we can help our farmers sell their produce at a fair price, support our MSMEs by linking them to bigger markets and help our vulnerable sectors by providing them with essential goods and services,” he said in his message during the opening program.
Simultaneous with the Kadiwa was the jobs fair where 4,651 jobs have been made available in partnership with 71 local employers, overseas placement agencies, and business process outsourcing firms.
“Every year we celebrate through a jobs fair to bring together job seekers and would-be or potential employers in one venue such as this,” Rodriguez added.
DOLE also released more or less P13.65 million worth of checks and items for eight livelihood projects benefitting 728 workers from Guimaras and Iloilo.
The Iloilo City Alliance Operators and Drivers Transport Cooperative received P5.7 million worth of items for their various livelihood projects under the entrepreneur program for 180 beneficiaries.
A P2.325 million check for the livelihood projects of 93 Indigenous Peoples and parents of child laborers of Lambunao town’s Barangay Panuran was also released during the celebration.
Other project recipients were the Integrated Kabuhay Project for 116 farmers and fisherfolk of Guimaras’ Jordan town which received a P1.2 million check; the rice retailing project for the rank and file workers of the Iloilo Mission Hospital Employees Labor Union/Federation of Free Workers with P998,788; mushroom production and processing project of the marginalized sectors of the Dumangas-Barotac Nuevo Mushroom Growers and Processors Association, P500,000; enhancement of community store for the association of persons with disability in Leon town, P1 million; sari-sari store project for the marginalized and informal sectors in Cabatuan town, P925,152; and P1 million worth of items for the consumer store of the Sta. Barbara-New Lucena Iloilo Transport Cooperative. (PNA)