Dole recipients to be trained as tour guides

MANILA, Philippines—Beneficiaries in the Bicol region of the conditional cash transfer (CCT), or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), will be hired as tour guides and caretakers of tourist spots under a project to be jointly funded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Tourism (DOT) and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) next year.

The project, called “Trabahong Turismo,” aims to provide sustainable sources of income to the beneficiaries.

The three government agencies have signed a memorandum of agreement for the implementation of the project.

DSWD Field Office V will identify the beneficiaries of the program who will attend DOT training courses on multilingual tour guiding, frontline services, river guiding, housekeeping, tourism awareness and mountain guiding.

“We want the beneficiaries to become self-reliant,” Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said.

With Bicol considered one of the top tourist destinations in the country, this opens up an opportunity for poor families to earn money, Soliman said.

Among the popular tourist destinations in the region are Donsol, Sorsogon, for butanding or whale shark-watching; Mayon Volcano in Legaspi City; and the Camarines Sur Watersports Complex in Naga City.

“We will continue to tap other partner-agencies and the private sector to create more livelihood opportunities for our disadvantaged people,” Soliman said.

In San Fernando City, La Union, the DSWD has partnered with the Department of Education (DepEd) to implement a literacy project in a bid to empower persons with disabilities (PWDs).

Dubbed “I Love PWDs” (Interactive Learning Operations Via Education for Persons With Disabilities), it aims to develop a desirable working knowledge, attitudes, values and skills of PWDs to help them cope with their challenges in life.

Under the project, 35 teachers who had undergone special training on managing PWDs will conduct free home learning sessions to the beneficiaries.

They will use the five learning modules of DepEd’s Alternative Learning System such as writing, communication, numeracy skills, critical thinking and problem solving and moral recovery program.