WV bet to national search for Best DOLE-Assisted Project bags 1st Prize
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) 6 lone entry in the individual category won 1st Prize in the recently concluded National Search for DOLE Best-Assisted Livelihood Projects.
Ma. Zeny Belen of Isabela, Negros Occidental, DOLE 6 entry in the Sikap Kabuhayan Award bested other entries from Region 8 and CARAGA Region; she received a kabuhayan certificate worth P150,000 from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the awarding ceremony held at SMX Convention Center in the Mall of Asia as part of the Labor Day Celebration.
On the other hand, Lambunao Garments Project of LGU-lambunao was DOLE 6 entry in the Kabalikat Kabuhayan Award where it was declared runner up and awarded P50,000.
DOLE 6 Director Aida M. Estabillo said she was overwhelmed by the result though she was very positive that the region’s entries would bag the 1st Prize.
“I am happy for Zeny Belen who made it to the top,” Estabillo said. “I was hoping that Lambunao Garments would also bag the 1st Prize but ….runner-up lang ito,” she added.
Belen sells ice water and halo-halo before she qualified to avail of the P5,000 livelihood assistance from DOLE which she used to expand her business into an eatery. As such, her income increased considerably from an average of P350 to P3,500 a day.
“I was confident that Zeny would outdo other finalists not only because of the significant increase in her income but, more importantly, because of her husband’s transformation,” she said. “Her eatery business was instrumental in her husband’s transformation,” she added.
Belen’s husband was an alcoholic and troublemaker but when he saw the business growing he gradually stopped drinking and became a responsible partner in running the business.
