STARTUP KITS Rep. Duterte’s livelihood program produces 25 new graduates

By MAYA M. PADILLO

Rep. Paolo Z. Duterte’s program to provide capacity building and livelihood produced a new batch of graduates on Tuesday.

The first district lawmaker, who was recently picked top performing legislator in the region by an independent survey entity, turned over breadmaking starter toolkits to 25 scholars who recently completed the breadmaking course conducted by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) at the DMMA College of Southern Philippines on Tuesday. He was represented by Benben Isidro and James Vergara of the First Congressional District Office.

The beneficiaries who received toolkits are all scholars of the First Congressional District Office.

Kimberly Ballerda, OIC manager of the DMMA College’s Culinary and Training Center, said the beneficiaries each received an electric oven with measuring cups and weighing scales as startup kits for small business in baking.

Engineer, safety officer relieved from Davao bulk water project

The management of WITCO Construction and Development Corporation (WCDC), one of the contractors for the Davao City Bulk Water Supply Project (DCBWSP), has permanently pulled out the engineer and safety officer from the said project following the incident on April 21, 2023, which caused the untimely death of one worker.

“We have started to undertake a comprehensive re-orientation among our project leads and workers to ensure strict compliance to Occupational Safety and Health Standards, retraining of all our manpower and reinforcing full compliance to the work permit system, among others,” it said.

The distribution of the toolkits was jointly conducted by the TESDA Davao District Office, House of Representatives, and DMMA College of Southern Philippines.

“TESDA and the House of Representatives is providing the 25 beneficiaries starter toolkits to help them launch their livelihood and use what they learned from our training into practice after they have acquired skills through the training program,” Ballerda said.

Vergara said they are happy to hand the certificates of completion and the starter toolkits

Three workers were rushed to the hospital by the Davao City 911 rescue team after experiencing difficulty in breathing while one worker was retrieved inside the pipeline by emergency personnel but was pronounced dead upon arrival at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) due to suffocation.

An investigation was immediately conducted to determine what had happened, whose responsible, and to provide immediate solutions to prevent a similar incident.

The company has reached out to the affected workers as well as to the family of the deceased and has started to provide them with the needed medical and financial support.

“The safety lapses that have been identified in our investigation are now being addressed,” the statement said.

Currently, all works related to the DCBWSP have been temporarily suspended until such time that WITCO can fully implement corrective measures.

“WCDC is committed to doing all that is necessary to ensure that this incident will never happen again. Our sincere apologies to all those who have been affected by this regretful incident,” it said.

The DCBWSP of the Davao City Water District (DCWD) is one FENGINEER, P9 FSTARTUP, P9

In a statement, WITCO said should there be any finding of negligence on the part of its supervising and safety officers onsite, the company will take full responsibility.