31 returning OFWs get business assistance
A total of 31 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), comprising the beneficiaries of the Balik Pinay, Balik Hanapbuhay project of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), graduated from the livelihood skills training.
Each of the graduates received a starter kit containing utensils, steamers and meat for their chosen business during the commencement exercises held last Friday at the Crown Regency Hotel.
The 31 graduates took the one-day skills training on meat processing at the Department of Manpower Development and Placement (DMDP) last March 16 with Chef Edgardo Labella II, son of vice mayoral candidate and Cebu City Councilor Edgardo Labella, as their culinary trainer.
They were taught how to make siomai, pork tocino and longganisa.
A new trainer at DMDP, Labella described the graduates as “obedient and fun to work with.”
OWWA Regional Director Wilfreda Misterio said the new graduates composed the second batch of beneficiaries of Balik Pinay, Balik Hanapbuhay project.
Before the training, the graduates were assessed according to their needs and interest.
“Naghimo ta ug training needs assessment ug unsay mga skills training nga pwede nila ma learn in a short period of time nga pwede nila masugdan diha sa ilang mga balay,” Misterio said.
Misterio said the skills training is free and the participants are not nessarily documented OFWs or OWWA members.
But she said the project is specifically designed for unsuccessful Pinay OFWs who went back to the country.
“Through these skills training, matagaan sila ug opportunity nga maka put up ug own business, naa na silay skills, naa na silay starter kits, makasugod na sila ug ilang business nga pwede maka hatag ug income sa ilang pamilya,” Misterio said.
Lavilla Inot, 35, a single mother from Naga City and one of the graduates, has worked as a factory worker in Taiwan for four years, and recently in Dubai for one year.
She said that unlike other OFWs, she was not beaten but she has experienced starvation, overwork, embarrassment and delayed salary. /CORRESPONDENT EMILY PANTALEON
