About 30 Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) graduated from Community Based Rehab Program (CBRP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in a closing exercise conducted on June 6, 2014 at Leon Postigo, Zamboanga Del Norte.

The CBRP for PWDs is a strategy of the Area Vocational Rehabilitation Center (AVRC) III to reach out to PWDs who are not able to avail of the programs and services given by the center. The program started on February 24, 2013 after it underwent consultative meeting, social, psychological, medical and vocational assessments.

The PWDs were assessed and verified to see their capacity and potentials to undergo the rigors of rehabilitation and can be declared as fit for the vocational training. The areas on rubber seedling propagation and nursery establishment and management were the identified skills training conducted for a period of seventy days inclusive of the social preparation and skills work evaluation process.

Fifteen of the Thirty PWDs were DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries who were mostly orthopedically handicapped. The recipients of the CBRP were facilitated by Leon Postigo Mayor Ruperto Jamora; Vice Mayor Cypress Jaug; LSWD Officer, Ms. Marilyn Ortuoste; PWD focal person, Ms. Ana Postigo; AVRC III staff, Ms. Georgia Suico; Ms. Arlindela Baes, Mr. Darwin Fernandez; Ms. Cythia C. Julian; DSWD SLP-Project Development Officers assigned on field; Mr. Jeffrey Maraguinot and Ms. Dureza Adlaon.

There were also stakeholders who took part in the implementation of the program which involved Municipal Agriculture, Department of Interior and Local Government-MOO, Department of Environment and Natural Resources-NGP, Planning officer and Foresters.

Prior to the closing exercises, the team conducted field visits to the project sites to see the outcome of the PWDs in applying the learning they have incurred during the skills training. The nursery site has shown the guests asexually propagated seedlings with at least 3,000 bags of rubber and other fruit trees.

The closing exercise allowed the participants to showcase their seedling products and organic fertilizers among their guests to show PWD capacities achieved after the implementation of the program. ##