Parents of child laborers in Sebucal receive DOLE livelihood kits

Some 14 parent-beneficiaries receive Department of Labor and Employment-X livelihood starter kits which includes 7 sari-sari store projects with different grocery items and rice sacks, 3 goat raising projects, and 4 hog raising projects worth PhP 13,500.00 each amounting to P189,000 during the turnover on 13 September 2022 at Brgy. Lake Duminagat, Don Victoriano, Misamis Occidental. (Photo Source: DOLE X Mis. Occ. PFO; photographer: DonVic Local)

A total of 14 parents of child laborers of Barangay Sebucal, a far flung community in Oroquieta city are now entrepreneurs after they received their livelihood starter kits amounting to P189,000 from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE-X).

DOLE-X Misamis Occidental Provincial Field Office (Mis. Occ. PFO) Chief Ebba Acosta said the turnover ceremony was held in a more accessible barangay in Lake Duminagat, a two-hour trek from the main road, since Barangay Sebucal is a four-hour walk from Lake Duminagat.

The lake is located in the municipality of Don Victoriano Chiongbian of the province, near the very mouth of Mt. Malindang.

Acosta said her staff endured the long hours of walk to the area to award the 14 starter kits on sari-sari store projects inclusive of grocery items (seven beneficiaries), goat raising (three), and hog raising projects (four) worth PhP 13,500 each parent-beneficiary.

Due to their remote location, the beneficiaries were overjoyed as first-time livelihood recipients from the government. A 55-year-old, Janito Gandamon said that with his hogs to raise, he committed to focus on caring for them to augment his income so his two young sons will no longer work in the quarry to suffice their daily needs.

The livelihood assistance is through the DOLE Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (DILEEP) for poverty and risk reduction among the working poor, vulnerable, and disadvantaged workers through the development of entrepreneurship and community enterprises.

The DOLE livelihood assistance to parents of child laborers is a strategic response to prevent and eliminate child labor. Parents of child laborers are among the priority beneficiaries under the DILEEP. Under the Guidelines of the DILEEP, beneficiaries should not allow their children to be engaged in child labor. The livelihood assistance provided can be in the form of Negokart, starter kits, or materials needed to start a livelihood undertaking.

Chiild Labor Prevention and Elimination Program (CLPEP) aims to remove children from child labor particularly in its worst forms. The program contributes to the Philippine Program Against Child Labor of the national government interventions for eliminating or preventing child labor by promoting child-focused actions and rights-based approach.