Aklan State U students get P140K worth of entrep grant

The Department of Labor and Employment has released P140,000 worth of grants to support 14 agriculture students of the Aklan State University-Ibajay Campus.

Regional Director Ponciano Ligutom of DOLE Region 6 said the state agency turned over the check to ASU-Ibajay campus President Danilo Abagon in a ceremony witnessed by Mayor Lourdes Miraflores and the parents of the beneficiaries. The grants were given through DOLE's Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) Program, to be used to purchase broiler chicks and feeds for the two-month poultry-raising project of the students.

The proceeds of the projects, coming from the sale of the chickens, will be used to purchase new ones for the next production cycle, Ligutom said.

"They were elated to know that the DOLE has a livelihood assistance program for young agricultural entrepreneurs," Ligutom told DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz in his report.

The YES program is part of the state agency's efforts to help college and technical vocational students and graduates to take up entrepreneurship as an alternative to wage employment.

"The YES Program is one of our strategies to address youth unemployment. It prepares young college and tech-voc students and graduates for their transition to becoming members of the labor force by making them productive, resourceful, and self-reliant," Baldoz said.

The agency has earlier released P196,215 in December last year to 73 students of West Visayas State University for various livelihood projects.