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By EDMER F. PANESA
The House of Representatives is pushing for grassroots-based
livelihood and skills training programs to support the government’s
goal of drastically reducing poverty incidence in the countryside.
House Speaker Prospero C. Nograles said House Bill (HB) 4349 or the
proposed "Barangay Livelihood and Skills Training Act of 2008" seeks
to promote economic development in rural areas by investing in people
as development and poverty reduction strategies.
He said the measure was approved by the House on second reading
before Congress adjourned its first regular session last June 11 and
its final approval is expected immediately after the opening of the
second regular session next month.
According to the Speaker, livelihood and skills training programs
on the barangay level are "economic pills" needed to bring down
poverty incidence in rural areas since the government will have to
reach out even to the remotest barangays to promote productivity.
"This is part of the government’s medium and long-term plan on
human development," Nograles said.
The Speaker agreed with the proponents of the HB 4349 that there is
a need to provide rural communities with skills training, educational
activities, knowledge, and self-enhancement for livelihood, gainful
employment, and entrepreneurship opportunities.
He said, "Education and training are the only way to sustained
development."
HB 4349 mandates the establishment and maintenance of livelihood
and skills training centers in every fourth, fifth, and sixth-class
municipalities, or in rural areas with the highest poverty incidence.
"We have to concentrate on barangays and rural communities that
need the most economic intervention and help from the government," the
authors of the bill said.
They said the proposed measure would serve as legal basis for the
coordination and implementation on the municipal and barangay levels
of all livelihood and skills training programs of the government.
Among the principal authors include Deputy Speaker Arnulfo
Fuentebella (Camarines Sur) and Reps. Arrel Olaño (Davao del Norte),
Albert Garcia (Bataan), Ma. Carissa Coscolluela (Buhay party-list),
Pryde Henry Teves (Negros Oriental), Eduardo Nonato Joson (Nueva Ecija),
Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro City), Manuel Agyao (Kalinga), and
Candido Pancrudo Jr. (Bukidnon).
HB 4349 provides for the creation of Municipal Advisory Boards, to
be chaired by the mayors, that will assist municipal governments in
instituting and maintaining the centers.
The board shall include representatives from business
organizations; chambers of commerce and cooperatives; micro, small,
and medium-scale enterprises; rural bankers; civil society
organizations; and people’s organizations undertaking livelihood and
skills training.
Ex-officio members include the provincial officers of the
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of
Agriculture (DA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
Satellite and mobile training centers will also be established in a
barangay or cluster of barangays to ensure broad reach to intended
beneficiaries.
National agencies (TESDA, DILG, DA, and DTI) shall assist local
governments in putting up and maintaining the centers, and allocate
funds for such programs out of their annual budgets.
HB 4349 has a counterpart bill in the Senate, principally authored
by Sen. Loren B. Legarda.
Loren said barangay livelihood and skills training measure would
also boost farm production, especially rice, because it would improve
the skills of the rural population to produce rice besides other food
commodities.
The lady senator explained that higher productivity of food and
other commodities in the countryside would help pull down food prices.
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