TARLAC CITY — Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) trained about 25 Luisita farmers and youth on bread making.
They are former members of Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Hacienda Luisita and Samahan ng mga Kabataan ng Asyenda Luisita.
TESDA Tarlac representative Gerardo Gomez shared that in a series of dialogue and consultation with the now Malayang Magbubukid ng Hacienda Luisita (MALAYA) members, they identified bread making as one of the skills they want to go through.
“We aim to provide skills training and we hope to see these skills be applied and sustained,” he furthered.
TESDA will continue assisting the trainees in reaching out to other concerned agencies for their production in partnership with Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and Armed Forces of the Philippines 1st Civil Relations Group.
“We will also provide welding training to other members of MALAYA so that while farmers await their harvests, at least they have other skills to practice,” he added.
Clrence Joy Paraso, one of the beneficiaries from the youth sector, expressed her appreciation to the government for this initiative.
“We really feel the support of the government, and I appreciate that even a small organization like ours is being supported,” she said.
Balete, Tarlac City Punong Barangay Ernesto Jimmy Pingol asked the participants to enrich the skills they acquired from TESDA and assured the support of the village council to these organizations.
TESDA’s livelihood training to Peoples’ Organization are among the initiatives under the Poverty Reduction Livelihood and Employment Cluster of Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.