Some 30,000 seedlings will be planted in various sites in Iloilo City and at Camp Pasica in the municipality of Dingle under the emergency employment program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
The office of Iloilo City (Lone District) Rep. Julienne Baronda facilitated the employment of 3,600 youths from this city’s 180 barangays under the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program with regreening activity among their other tasks starting June 10 this year.
“We want to help our youth cope with the current economic realities as we all recover from the pandemic. We have a menu of initiatives for them and this TUPAD program is among these,” Baronda told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in an interview on Wednesday.
Of the 30,000 seedlings, 15,000 will be planted in the city while the remaining half will be at Camp Pasica, a 13-hectare Girl Scout camp located at Barangay Tanghawan in Dingle, in support of its rehabilitation program.
“We have embraced environmental regeneration as an additional core advocacy because we understand many of the big challenges we face can be helped by re-greening our environment, by taking care of mother nature,” Baronda said.
A series of orientations have been conducted by the DOLE and the office of Baronda last week in preparation for the implementation of the program.
The TUPAD program beneficiaries are entitled to a daily pay of PHP450 for services rendered ranging from 10 days on the minimum, up to a maximum of 30 working days. (PNA)