DOLE transforms illegal loggers in Dinagat Islands into tree planters
By Renelle L. Escuadro
SAN JOSE, Dinagat Islands (PIA) —Seventy-five illegal loggers in Sitio Manoligao, Barangay Del Pilar in the municipality of Cagdianao, Dinagat Islands traded their chainsaws for seedlings as they recently took on a new role as tree planters under the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) program on Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD).
The community-based employment initiative is part of DOLE’s continuing commitment to sustainable development and social reintegration. Through the TUPAD program, former illegal loggers are provided with short-term employment opportunities focused on ecological restoration, offering them legal and safer alternatives of earning an income and motivating them to stop engaging in illegal logging as their previous livelihood.
Pablo, one of the participants, thanked the DOLE for the initiative. “Thank you DOLE because you made us realize that there is income in planting trees. Ang amoa pagtoo ang kwarta para makapalit mi para sa amoa pamilya naa ra sa pagpamutol ug kahoy (We thought earning money to feed our family is only through cutting the trees).”
“We are hopeful that through DOLE, the provincial government of Dinagat Islands and other partners, they can help us provide a sustainable income source so no one in our group will resort to illegal logging again,” he said.
DOLE Dinagat Islands closely coordinated with the barangay local government unit of Del Pilar for the provision of the seedlings used in the tree-planting activity. It was also participated by the representatives of the Provincial Public Employment Service Office (PPESO) and the Remedy Action Center.
A wage payout and on-site monitoring were also conducted to formally recognize the beneficiaries’ participation in reforestation efforts in the province.
To recall, in the 2nd quarter of this year, DOLE announced its program in Dinagat Islands to help 400 informal sector workers in the province to get emergency jobs or short-term employment on reforestation and massive planting activities, including Moringa planting and community gardening to target beneficiaries like illegal loggers, parents of child laborers engaged in illegal logging, among others. (RLE, PIA Dinagat Islands with a report from DOLE PDI)
