Former rebels to receive DOLE’s chicken egg-laying package

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 28, 2023): Former rebels to receive DOLE’s chicken egg-laying package (By Mary Judaline Partlow)

LAYER CHICKEN. Four former rebels of the New People's Army (NPA) in Negros Oriental province become beneficiaries of the chicken egg-laying livelihood assistance program of the Department of Labor and Employment. Each package is worth around PHP30,000, consisting of 24 heads of chicken, feeds, and an egg-laying machine. (PNA file photo by JFP)

DUMAGUETE CITY – Four former rebels (FRs) of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in Negros Oriental province are the first recipients of the Department of Labor and Employment's (DOLE) chicken egg-laying project for this year.

DOLE-Negros Oriental provincial officer-in-charge Maria Theresa Tanquiamco told the Philippine News Agency on Tuesday that the FRs were granted livelihood package, valued at around PHP30,000 each.

“Aside from being the first recipients for this year, this is also the first time that the DOLE will be giving out this particular livelihood assistance to FRs, as part of our mandate to support the government’s whole-of-nation approach under the ELCAC (End Local Communist Armed Conflict) program,” Tanquiamco said in mixed English and Cebuano.

Each package includes 24 heads of chicken that are ready to lay, chicken feeds, and a mechanized egg-laying machine, she said.

The counterpart from the beneficiaries would be a shed to house these chickens and the equipment, and the maintenance and feeding, she added.

The FRs were identified and endorsed by the Philippine Army and after a thorough review of their application, Tanquiamco said they chose this particular livelihood package over other options as this would bring “immediate results.”

The chickens, when delivered, are ready to lay eggs, and would take just a few weeks before the FRs can start selling them.

The Philippine Army will be their first client, buying the eggs from the FRs at a reasonable price, the DOLE provincial OIC said.

The delivery of the livelihood grants for the FRs, whose identities were withheld for security reasons, is expected this week or early next week.

Meanwhile, records at the DOLE-Negros Oriental office showed that four associations also availed of the livelihood grant during the height of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

These are the Dauin Vegetable Grower’s Association in Barangay Tunga-tunga, Dauin, with 96 beneficiaries; Cluster Level Association in Barangay Bagtic, Mabinay (73 beneficiaries); (Tolong Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Barangay Villareal, Bayawan City (52 beneficiaries); and Sta. Laguna Mato-bato Livelihood Association in Barangay Matobato, Bindoy (42 beneficiaries).

Some PHP3.5 million worth of the livelihood package was released to these groups between 2020 and 2022.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1196233