At least 6,000 barangay health workers in Ilocos Norte joined Senator Manuel B. Villar Jr.’s Sipag at Tiyaga Livelihood Caravan in a continuing effort to provide livelihood opportunities to communities across the country.

Villar, who served as the keynote speaker during the training program, also took the occasion to promote his Sipag at Tiyaga program to encourage community workers to embark on business enterprises as a means of deriving income for their families.

According to Villar, he tapped the health workers as recipients of the livelihood training to maximize their potentials while working in their communities as volunteer workers.

Mildred Fernando, president of the federated barangay health workers, said the livelihood skills training is a good opportunity to open business ventures for her members.

“We will encourage our members to pursue what they learned from the training so that they can earn additional income for their families,” Fernando said.

Trainors of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) provided a demonstration on tomato and mango processing.

Villar’s livelihood program has provided livelihood seminar to more than 25,000 residents around the country.

During his visit to the province, the senator was also given the honor to unveil the barangay health workers’ (BHW) newly built office at the Provincial Capitol that would serve as their function room during meetings, seminars and other activities.

According to Fernando, their office was built through support funds totaling more than a million pesos from the provincial government while the materials used were scrap materials salvaged from the old provincial hospital.

The BHW group, a non-government organization, serves as frontline volunteer workers of the Department of Health (DOH) in their own communities.

Trained by the DOH in health care and services, one health worker is designated to provide service to 20 households.

PIA News Service