Land Bank offers aid for sugar workers

BACOLOD CITY—The Land Bank of the Philippines will implement a special livelihood program for sugar workers in Negros Occidental affected by the “dead season” and for porters affected by the shutdown of the old Bacolod airport.

The dead season refers to the off-milling period in the sugar industry when there is little no work on sugarcane farms.

Liduvino Geron, Land Bank first vice president for programs and management, said on Monday the assistance would be in form of micro-finance for livelihood so it would be sustainable.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, who was leaving for Paris today night, told the Inquirer that he instructed Geron to implement the livelihood programs.

Negros Occidental Gov. Isidro Zayco raised the problem of the sugar workers displaced by the dead season to the President during her visit to Negros Occidental last week and she instructed Teves to look into the matter and coordinate with the governor.

Zayco had earlier said the dead season usually lasts three to four months and, during that period, sugar planters would assist their workers. However, the dead season was expected to last from April to September because of poor production this crop year brought on by a long rainy season.

Geron said they would discuss the program with the governor this week.

Aside from the sugar workers, the program would also benefit the porters who were dislocated when the 72-year-old Bacolod airport stopped operations due to the opening of the new Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City. /Inquirer

source: globalnation.inquirer