VIGAN CITY, Feb. 28 (PIA) - - Member-agencies of the Poverty Reduction, Livelihood and Employment Cluster (PRLEC) of the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC) have provided various assistance and services to the people of Ilocos Region since 2019, according to PRLEC-1 Chairperson and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)-1 Regional Director Vincent Cifra during the RTF-ELCAC1 meeting on February 17.

As the lead-agency of the cluster, the TESDA has conducted various technical-vocational skills training to more than 270 thousand residents of the region – more than 13 thousand of this were provided with livelihood starter kits and more than one thousand were from PRLEC priority barangays.

Through the TESDA’s Project RANIAG (Renewable, Alternative and Naturally-TESDA sourced Illumination to Region I Alleviate Global-warming), eight communities and 110 families were provided with solar-powered streetlights and/or lighting packs.

Farmers and/or agrarian reform beneficiaries were also provided with rice, yellow corn seeds, and farm machineries from the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Agrarian Reform, and underwent urban gardening training conducted by the DA, while fisher folks were provided with fishing gears, fingerlings, and underwent skills training on Fishery through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

Other support services such as construction of the Small Water Impounding Project and installation of Solar-Powered Irrigation System were provided while four irrigators’ groups in the region were capacitated by the National Irrigation Administration.

Through the TUPAD or Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), more than two thousand workers were engaged in emergency employment.

Livelihood assistance such as provision of live hogs and goats, and sari-sari store package to more than 700 recipients of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Livelihood Seeding Program-Negosyo Serbisyo sa Barangay and Pangkabuhayan sa Pagbangon at Ginhawa program; distribution of food and/or relief packs to the recipients of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Social Amelioration Program; and provision of various livelihood starter kits and trainings to more than two thousand recipients of the DOLE’s Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP) or KABUHAYAN Program.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources completed the implementation of nine projects worth P4.2 million in nine barangay-beneficiaries under its Community-based Forest Management Program.

As rambutan is propagated in Salcedo town, one of the PRLEC priority barangays, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) awarded to the indigenous peoples (Kankanaey and/or Itneg-Bago) of Barangay Baluarte in Salcedo the financial assistance amounting to P750 thousand for the production of rambutan.

Since 2019, the NCIP has provided financial assistance to a total of six enterprises in the Ilocos Region.

More than 17 thousand individuals in the region were also capacitated through various trainings and seminars conducted by the Cooperative Development Authority.

Through the Community Empowerment thru Science and Technology (CEST) program of the Department of Science and Technology, more than 700 residents were trained on various science and technology interventions, more than 300 employment were generated, and some 39 S&T products were developed, among others.

More than one thousand individuals were trained in the tourism industry and skills program by the Department of Tourism.

In an online exchange on Monday, Regional Director Cifra said it is important for the cluster to continue working together, embodying the whole-of-nation approach of the EO70, in providing services to reduce poverty, improve income and employment opportunities and empower communities.

"We have to capacitate the LGUs and involve local private stakeholders to sustain our ELCAC-PRLEC gains on the ground so that continuity is more assured despite movements of key personnel in the different national agencies, among other factors," Cifra said.

"Let us always remember that what we have done significantly contributed to our efforts to once and for all stop communist terrorism in our nation. This is for the country. This is for our children. Hence, we cannot stop," he added. (JCR/JPD/JMCQ, PIA Ilocos Sur)