ECC-REU 12 Administrative Officer II Exequiel K. Salcedo III (first photo, extreme left) orients PWRDs about EC claims, procedures, and services. DTI-12 Trade and Industry Analyst Lorraine Marie Q. Blanza (second photo, middle) trains PWRDs about How to start a business, Entrepreneurial-mind setting, and financial literacy at ECC-REU 12 office in General Santos City.

 

Four persons with work-related disabilities (PWRDs) with their family members recently attended the livelihood training organized by the Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) at ECC Regional Extension Unit 12 office in General Santos City.

Agapito Ayop, Norman Pasibe, Melvin Segara, and Romel Araquil all experienced disabilities as a result of work mishaps. Segara was unintentionally bumped by their vehicle while making deliveries, Ayop and Pasibe had severe injuries after the crushing incidents caused by the machines they used at work, and Araquil was hurt when his hand was struck by a roll-up door’s cable wire.

To guide the PWRDs in starting their self-managed micro-enterprise, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 12 Trade and Industry Analyst Lorraine Marie Q. Blanza, shared her knowledge and insights on “How to Start a Business, Entrepreneurial Mind-setting, and Financial Literacy.”

ECC-REU 12 Administrative Officer II Exequiel K. Salcedo III additionally oriented on business plan making where participants, along with their families, brainstormed and discussed the venture they had decided to set up. By doing so, they are expected to submit their business proposal and will soon be granted a ₱20,000.00 worth of starter kit each for their chosen business.

Participants were also reminded to be responsible for the assistance granted to them as ECC will conduct monitoring of their businesses. If sustained, they will be granted the complementary kit amounting to ₱10,000.00.

The program was specifically designed for workers who became disabled due to work-related accidents or illnesses, and whose EC partial or total disability claim was approved by the Social Security System (SSS) or Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

The ECC’s Katulong at Gabay sa Manggagawang may Kapansanan (KaGabay) Program is a special economic assistance program for Persons with Work-Related Disability (PWRD), who lost employment because of work-related sickness or injury, to facilitate their re-integration into the economic mainstream and to provide them with equal access to livelihood opportunities.

 

K. Daga – REU 12