DOLE-Kalinga temporarily suspends livelihood program application to verify large number of applicants

Tabuk City, Kalinga – The Department of Labor and Employment Kalinga temporarily suspended acceptance of livelihood program applications due to the large number of applicants for the past months, says DOLE Kalinga official.

Normally the application they receive monthly is averaging a hundred, but from October to early January they already have over a thousand, which makes it difficult for the provincial office of the agency to assess and evaluate all applications given the other programs currently being implemented.

In an interview, DOLE Kalinga Field Office Head Avelina Manganip said the over a thousand applications is only for the DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP).

DILP specifically seeks to assist vulnerable workers by providing grants that can be used to start a livelihood project, expand or upgrade an existing project, restore or re-establish existing livelihood projects destroyed due to natural and human-made disasters, or transform existing livelihood assistance to community/group enterprises. Selected beneficiaries are also provided with training support.

According to Manganip, they had to temporarily stop entertaining more applications for the program to allow the staff to process the documents of those who signified their interest to avail the project since October last year.

“Iti livelihood program ongoing [application] pero we stopped muna accepting applications because nakaadu kami idi October, November, and December. So i-process namin muna wennu i-evaluate namin muna and then we’ll forward it at the regional office,” she explained.

She further said that they don’t want these applications to be stuck at the field office saying, “anya ngay sirbi na nu accept kami nga accept ket maturog met gayam dita isu nga i-process mi pay, evaluate mi pay.”

 The DOLE Kalinga Field Office will resume accepting applicants for the livelihood program in July 2025.