PESO works to increase opportunities to reduce unemployment
The City of Koronadal Public Employment Office (PESO) works to provide Koronadaleños with opportunities to improve their economic status and reduce the unemployment rate through a variety of programs and interventions guided by the three core functions principles.
According to PESO Manager Bernard Taperla, one of their primary goals is to ensure the timely delivery of employment facilitation services in the City of Koronadal. He emphasized that the PESO is also responsible for providing timely labor market information in collaboration with the PESO’s attached agencies, such as the Department of Labor and Employment, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and others.
“The overall employment rate in our country is 91.3 percent. That is, if we have this percentage of employment rate, and our unemployment rate is 8.7 percent, this may have an effect on the city level as well. As we can see, we have implemented various initiatives to assist those affected by the pandemic as a result of the intervention that we made through the initiative of our Mayor,” Taperla said during the “Tingog sang Pagsanyog” Facebook Live Development Program.
According to Taperla, those affected by the pandemic are given appropriate intervention to at least assist them in their hardship as a result of the pandemic’s onset, which affected jobs and businesses.
Meanwhile, the PESO works on three core functions to ensure appropriate service delivery, including Labor Market Information, which tracks the status of unemployment and underemployment. Furthermore, the PESO Employment Facilitation Services implements various programs such as the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES), Local Recruitment Services (LRS), and special recruitment activities for those aspiring to work abroad, as well as the implementation of Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) and the DOLE Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Program (DILEEP).
On the other hand, the PESO provides entrepreneurial skills training to ensure that the government-provided livelihood becomes a sustainable source of income. Tapela, in fact, always instills in his lectures the three guiding principles of money management, which are the 50/30/20 rule. The said rule is a simple budgeting method that can help people manage their money effectively, simply, and long-term. The basic rule of thumb is to divide the monthly after-tax income into three spending categories: 50% for needs, 30% for wants, and 20% for savings or debt repayment.
Meanwhile, the TUPAD program is one of the mechanisms used by the national government through the DOLE to alleviate poverty. It has two implementation options: 14 working days or 10 days with a salary of P336 per day. The PESO has recorded a total of 4,579 beneficiaries from 2019 to the present.
Furthermore, the city government has launched two batches of the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) to assist and help provide temporary employment to deserving poor students, out-of-school youth, and dependents of displaced or would-be displaced workers. It is an employment-bridging program that will help students pay for their education. Through the PESO, the DOLE XII has catered to 260 SPES beneficiaries for the fiscal year 2022.
The DILEEP recorded a total of 120 beneficiaries for 2020 and 58 for 2021. It is a program that aims to contribute to poverty reduction and risk reduction among the working poor, vulnerable, and marginalized workers through emergency employment and the promotion of entrepreneurship and community enterprises.
Following the election ban, the City Government will continue to provide a plethora of livelihood programs and services to deserving Koronadaleños through its Pangkabuhayan Financial Assistance (PFAS).
Many poor but deserving beneficiaries have received financial assistance through this city-assisted project, which can be used as starting capital for their preferred business. In fact, by 2020, 956 people had benefited from the program. In 2021, 949 people were listed as beneficiaries. Aside from financial assistance, this was accompanied by necessary entrepreneurial training and a seminar on how to sustain the recipient’s livelihood activities.
Taperla assures the public in one of his pronouncements that there are still many upcoming projects, programs, and activities that will be facilitated by PESO. To realize it, Taperla continues to outsource funds by coordinating with foundations that can potentially help the indigent or poorest of the poor in order to alleviate their economic status.