TUGUEGARAO CITY, Mar. 1 (PIA) –Fifty-three tricycle drivers in Gattaran, Cagayan received livelihood assistance amounting to P330,000 from the Department of Labor and Employment in Region 2(DOLE-2) on February 25.

“The beneficiaries are members of the Gattaran East Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association (Getoda) who requested for financial assistance to start a motorcycle parts trading livelihood,” said DOLE Information Officer Reginald Estioco.

In a simple awarding ceremony held at the DOLE office in this city, Association President Rodolfo Pattung, together with Gattaran Municipal Treasurer Ana Gammad, received the check of P330,000.

Labor Regional Director Atty. Sixto T. Rodriguez Jr. encouraged the officers and members to make use of the livelihood assistance for its intended purpose.

“Your members elected you because of your capacity to lead them. The assistance we have given you is just a small amount, but though it is small, if implemented well, it will grow and will help augment your income. If we see that there’s a development on your proposed livelihood project, we might be inspired to give you more assistance,” Rodriguez said.

“We are happy that at last, your assistance to our association is now in our hands. We thank you very much for this support. As president of the Getoda, I promise DOLE officials that we will safeguard this fund and make our project profitable,” Pattung said.

The Association will venture into sales of motorcycle parts and service and its members will benefit from the business through profit sharing and discounted prices of motorcycle parts and service.

Meanwhile, as counterpart of the DOLE project, the local government unit of Gattaran, Cagayan conducted a social preparation and entrepreneurship development training participated by the officers of the Getoda.