Several vendors in Mandaue City, Cebu province and Bohol province are now equipped with tools and bicycles for their vending and delivery business, the Department of Labor and Employment-Visayas (DOLE-7) said on Tuesday.
In a statement, Emmanuel Ferrer, DOLE-7 officer-in-charge (OIC) and assistant regional director, said the PHP25,000 worth of package of assistance for each vendor comprises a mountain bike with lights and horn; insulator bag; helmet; reflector vest; tumbler; cellphone; and a prepaid load card amounting to PHP2,900.
In Mandaue City, DOLE-7 released PHP350,000 worth of delivery business jigs and equipment to 14 vendors at the Mandaue City Sports Complex.
“We hope that this assistance will help them recover from the harsh impact of the pandemic. We already know that there are so many workers both from the formal and informal economy who lost their source of income. Under this program, it is our wish for them to bounce back economically,” Ferrer said.
In Bohol, around five workers benefited from the project and collectively received PHP125,000 worth of livelihood assistance from DOLE. They received their bikes and other materials at the DOLE-Bohol field office.
“Our BikeCINATION project beneficiaries in Bohol hailed from the municipalities of Getafe, Valencia, Danao, Antequera, and Anda. To all of them, congratulations and we hope that they will put to good use the assistance they got from the government,” DOLE-Bohol OIC Jessica Uy said.
BikeCINATION is a special project under the DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP), a grant for entrepreneurial ventures for the working poor, vulnerable, and marginalized workers.
“This is an incentive given to the informal sector workers who have completed their vaccination. Equipped with these jigs and materials for delivery business, beneficiaries would no longer just wait for passersby, instead, they can now deliver food items right at the doorstep of their ‘suki’ (loyal customer). The provision of cellular phones and load can also help them accommodate text and calls for deliveries,” Undersecretary and DOLE-7 concurrent head Victor del Rosario said.
The deployment of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines, del Rosario said, is one of the strategies advocated by the government to facilitate the safe reopening of the economy.
“To complement the said undertaking and to mitigate the impact of the pandemic to the workers in the informal sector and further encourage them to be vaccinated, DOLE provided bicycles and other necessary tools/equipment for vending/delivery business,” he added.
The project mainly covers the eligible workers in the informal sector, who have already completed the two doses of Covid-19 vaccines. (PNA)
