Around 281 drivers and operators from two transport cooperatives in Iloilo will get over PHP8.4 million worth of livelihood projects under the integrated livelihood program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The Molo Transport Service Cooperative will receive PHP1.378 million worth of projects for its 46 members while the Western Visayas Transport Cooperative (WVTC), PHP7.036 million for its 235 members.

The assistance will be released on May 1 in time for Labor Day celebration.

“These are individual projects at PHP30,000 each. It’s the fourth project granted by the government for our transport sector affected by the modernization program,” DOLE Iloilo officer-in-charge Amy Judicpa said in an interview on Tuesday.

She added that the recipients are endorsed either by the transport cooperative or the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

WVTC president Raymundo “Boyet” Parcon, in a separate interview, said some of the beneficiaries are engaged in sari-sari stores and rice retailing projects.

“It is a big help for our displaced members,” he said.

Judicpa said they would release 11 projects under the DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP) to transport groups, workers groups, cooperatives, and local government units as beneficiaries or accredited co-partners.

“We will also release a check for indigenous people affected by the construction of the Jalaur River Mega Dam, more than PHP4 million for 135 IPs in Calinog,” she said.

The recipients are from Barangays Alibunan, Agcalaga, Toyungan, Binolosan, Pequeño, Cahigon, Guinbonyugan, Garangan, and Masaroy who will embark on projects like native chicken meat and egg production, broiler chicken egg production, mallard duck meat and egg production, among others.

Other beneficiaries of livelihood projects are parents of child laborers, an employee union, and other marginal sectors. (PNA)