SULTAN KUDARAT, MAGUINDANAO — After successfully completing skills training, a total of 219 decommissioned Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants received support fund allowance from the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education-Technical Education and Skills Development (MBHTE-TESD) here at Simuay on Friday, May 13, 2022.
The grant of subsidy is part of the MBHTE’s flagship program in partnership with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU), which aims to uplift the socio-economic status of MILF combatants through the Executive Order No. 79, also known as Normalization Program.
Mohamad-Alli Diang, MBHTE-TESD Provincial Normalization focal person, said that “aside from free skills training, the program also includes allowances and financial assistance for decommissioned combatants for them to build small businesses little by little, and at the same time, to apply those skills they learned on their daily lives.”
“Our beneficiaries received Php160.00 allowance per day and this will depend on the number of days or duration of each course. We also gave them another Php1000.00 worth of financial assistance for their personal protective equipment during the training,” he added.
The financial assistance was distributed to the trainees under seven (7) Technical Vocational Institutes — composed of 20 trainees in Dressmaking NC II from Darussalam Institutes, Inc.; 20 trainees in Bread and Pastry Production NC II from Farssan Institutes of Technology, Inc.; 25 trainees in Produce Organic Concoction and Extracts from Sajahatra Services Cooperative; 80 trainees in carpentry NC II from Lamalan Balis Flash Image Learning Center, Inc. and Awang Technical Vocational Institutes, Inc.; and 74 trainees of Produce Organic Fertilizer from Awang Technical Vocational Institutes, Inc. and from Upi Agricultural School.
One of the trainees on carpentry, Bainara Fermin, 52, who received Php7,560.00, expressed her gratitude for being a beneficiary of BARMM government’s free skills training and financial assistance.
“We learned a lot of things, I didn’t expect that I’ve completed such skills training which can help our day-to-day work. Aside from teaching us for free, they also supported us by giving allowances which will help us a lot,” Fermin said in vernacular.
“Being a woman is not a hindrance to learn skills in carpentry and I thank the BARMM government for this (opportunity). This shows and proves that they are not neglecting us,” she added. (Johaira B. Sahidala /BIO)
