SIXTY-ONE members of the "Alsa Masa" and their dependents from the town of Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay are now equipped with skills to earn and support their families.
They have completed the Agricultural Crops Production NCII on Friday, December 4, conducted by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).
Lieutenant Colonel Don Templonuevo, commander of the 44th Infantry Battalion (IB), said the graduates are residents of Lacnapan and New Tampilisan villages of Kabasalan town in Zamboanga del Sur.
Aside from skills training, Templonuevo said each of the 61 graduates also received P7,720 as allowance for internet and personnel protective equipment or a total of P470,920.
Templonuevo said the skills training supports President Rodrigo Duterte's Executive Order No. 70 (Whole of Nation Approach) to End Local Communist Armed Conflict under the Poverty Reduction, Livelihood and Employment Cluster of the Provincial Task Force.
He said the graduates were grateful for the opportunities given them and never expected that after how many years of living a humble life in the far-flung barangays without finishing a proper education, they were "able to experience wearing togas and marching during the (graduation) ceremony."
The conduct of the training is a joint project of the 44IB, Tesda, municipality of Kabasalan, provincial government of Zamboanga Sibugay, and Zamboanga Sibugay Polytechnic Institute. (VoxPop Zamboanga)