TAGUIG CITY -- Around 350 households in Barangay Datal Anggas, Alabel, Sarangani Province will light up before Christmas through TESDA’s Project TALA or TESDA Alay ay Liwanag at Asenso.

The said project is currently training one individual per household with Photovoltaic Systems Installation NC II.

According to TESDA-XII Regional Director Rafael Abrogar, the trainees were provided with training materials such as solar panels, wires and lights, as well as scholarship allowances.

Meanwhile, Alabel Mayor Vic Paul Salarda provided food for the trainees during their training and Sarangani Congressman Ruel Pacquiao shouldered the other expenses, including housing, so trainees would no longer go back home during the course of their training. It will usually take a trekking time of six to twelve hours for the trainees to return home.

This year, Project TALA has already trained around 1,000 beneficiaries who are living in Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs) of Region XII or the SOCCSKSARGEN Region. The program is also supported by the TESDA-led Poverty Reduction, Livelihood and Employment Cluster (PRLEC) of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).  

TESDA Secretary Isidro Lapeña, who is also the Cabinet Officer for Regional Development and Security (CORDS) for SOCCSKSARGEN, said that Project TALA has become a significant intervention of the Task Force in the region.

“To date, Project TALA has already lighted 650 households.  This project did not only provide unenergized communities the source of energy, but also provided them with skills on Photovoltaic Systems Installation,” he said during the recent CORDS meeting.  

Lapeña added that PRLEC is allocating another 3,000 slots for Project TALA scholars which will eventually light up 3,000 more households by the end of the year. (TESDA)