Over P2M livelihood aid benefit iKalinga families of child laborers

Tabuk City, Kalinga - Families of child laborers in Kalinga now have a chance to a start small business and improve their lives after the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) - Cordillera recently provided over P2 million in livelihood assistance. 

Said aid, amounting to P2,040,000, was given to parents and guardians of iKalinga children who need to work to attend school and meet their basic needs. 

According to the Philippine Information Agency-CAR, families benefitting from the program were given P30,000 worth of livelihood aid each in the form of starter kits for weaving, carpentry, small retail stores, food processing, hog and goat raising, tailoring, and other simple enterprises. 

The assistance was distributed during the Information and Service Caravan of DOLE’s Child Labor Prevention and Elimination Program (CLPEP), held at the Tabuk People’s Gymnasium on June 12, 2025. 

The activity was part of the celebration of the 127th Philippine Independence Day and Tabuk Matagoan Festival. 

During the distribution, DOLE-CAR Regional Director Imelda Romanillos said the goal of the program (CLPEP) is to help families stand on their own so children won’t be forced to work to support their household. 

“Nakikita naman po natin ‘yung paghihirap ng workers natin in the informal economy, ‘yung kagustuhan nila at mithiin na makalaya sa kahirapan. So ngayong araw natanggap na po nila ang mga request nilang gamit para po makapag-simula po ng kanilang individual enterprises,” added Romanillos, as quoted by the PIA-CAR. 

Aside from the livelihood support, 68 profiled child laborers were given school supplies under DOLE’s Project Angel Tree, a program supported by donors and child-caring institutions to provide social services to child workers.