CEBU CITY, Cebu, June 9 (PIA) -- The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Region 7 distributed to the vendors of Mandaue City, Cebu and Bohol a package of assistance including a bicycle (mountain bike) for their delivery business.

The package of assistance worth P25,000 includes a bicycle, bike light with horn, insulator bag, helmet, reflector vest, and tumbler.

Other tools and equipment needed to operationalize their vending and delivery business were also given such as cellphone and a pre-paid load card amounting to P2,900.

In Mandue City, DOLE released P350,000 worth of delivery business jigs and equipment to 14 vendors at the Mandaue City Sports Complex, Mandaue City.

Representing Undersecretary and DOLE-7 Concurrent Head Victor Del Rosario during the turn over of livelihood assistance was Officer in Charge (OIC) Assistant Regional Director Emmanuel Ferrer accompanied by Tri-City Field Office Chief Labor and Employment Officer Marites Mercado.

“Congratulations to the beneficiaries. We hope that this assistance will help them recover from the harsh impact of the pandemic. We know already 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.

In Bohol, around five workers benefited from the project and collectively received P125,000 worth of livelihood assistance from DOLE.

DOLE-Bohol Field Office OIC Jessica Uy, together with the Public Employment Service Office managers of the respective local government units (LGUs) where the beneficiaries come from, turned over the bicycles and other materials.

“Our BikeCination project beneficiaries in Bohol hailed from the municipalities of Getafe, Valencia, Danao, Antequera and Anda,” said Uy.

She congratulated all the beneficiaries and hopes that they will be able to use it for good since they got it from the government.

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.' The provision of cellular phones and load can also help them accommodate text and calls for deliveries,” said del Rosario.

The DOLE offiical added that the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines is one of the strategies advocated by the government to facilitate the safe re-opening 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,” explained del Rosario.

The project mainly covers the eligible workers in the informal sector who have already completed the two doses of COVID-19 vaccines.(HFG/PIA7 with reports from DOLE7)