DOLE MisOcc gives temporary employment amid pandemic

Some 75 Government Internship Program (GIP) Healthy Economic Recovery Officers (HEROs) under the Mission R.A.C.E. (Rebooting Activities through Community Engagements) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE-X) completed the six-month contract last December 2021, which provided temporary employment amid the pandemic.

DOLE-X Misamis Occidental Provincial Field Office (Mis. Occ. PFO) Chief Ebba B. Acosta said the culmination ceremony in the respective municipalities was facilitated by the PFO on 22 December 2021 at Barangay Dullan Covered Court in Aloran; Filclaire Resort in Bunawan, Calamba in the afternoon; and SB Session Hall in Bonifacio, Misamis Occidental on 23 December 2021.

As the government’s efforts of restarting the local economy hardly hit by the pandemic, DOLE Mission RACE Program is being adopted with the goal of revitalizing domestic economies through community engagement. The said HEROs assisted the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) of the Local Government Unit (LGU) in carrying out community activities such as livelihood trainings and labor market profiling in the barangays.

Acosta said the recovery plan included the reporting and monitoring of programs, activities, and initiatives which paved the recovery efforts and appropriate interventions for currently displaced and would-be displaced employees as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ceremony was attended by some municipal officials of the involved municipalities and their PESO Managers. The DOLE-X personnel distributed the special awards and certificates while the PESO Managers handed-out the tokens to the said GIP Heroes.

Calamba 28 year-old GIP HERO Hermes O. Sakita, Jr. said he was grateful for the employment opportunity even during the time of pandemic, where other companies are actually reducing their number of workforce. He went on to say that while the job was only temporary, it provided him with an additional source of income and gave him the determination and perseverance to work hard in life despite the challenges they faced as a family.

DOLE's effort is to assist the government in identifying and implementing the necessary reforms to support the economy by generating an accurate picture of the labor market in each barangay. (Lorraine M. Roa/DOLE-X Mis. Occ. PFO)