The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Negros Oriental has donated PHP200,000 worth of livelihood kits and snorkeling equipment to the association of “turtle guides” in the world-renowned dive destination, Apo Island, in Dauin town.

Nimfa Virtucio, DTI-Negros Oriental provincial chief, in an interview with the Philippine News Agency on Thursday, said the distribution of the donation was held in Apo Island on Wednesday.

More than 300 members of the Apo Island Snorkeling Equipment Rental and Guiding Association (AISERGA) received the livelihood assistance comprising PHP80,000 worth of consumer/grocery goods like rice and canned food that they could sell at their local “sari-sari” store and PHP120,000 worth of snorkeling gear such as snorkels, masks, and fins, Virtucio said.

“This sector has been badly affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, having lost their primary source of income as snorkeling guides in Apo Island, after the tourism industry there was shut down,” she said.

The livelihood kits will help bail them out in the meantime until tourism picks up once more on the island and visitors return to go scuba diving, snorkeling, or swimming with the turtles, she added.

The AISERGA members eke out their living from equipment rental and guiding tourists in the water who want to swim with the turtles.

Virtucio said this is a project of the DTI under its Livelihood Saving Program.

Meanwhile, other agencies and the local government unit were also represented during the visit to Apo Island.

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) will provide training to association members, such as on simple book-keeping, while Dauin Mayor Galicano Truita also introduced his project on biogas that can be used in hog-raising, Virtucio said.

The 11th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army was also there to assist in the distribution of the donation. (PNA)