Alicia, Zamboanga Sibugay. The Federation of PESO Managers of Zamboanga Sibugay conducted its 1st PESO Mobile Conference held in the Sanggunian Bayan Session Hall of Alicia, Zamboanga Sibugay on January 29, 2015. The meeting was aimed at having a strategic direction for the implementation of PESO Programs and Services for the year 2015.

The conference was formally opened by Hon. Yasher S. Musa Al Hadj, the Mayor of Alicia where he cheerfully welcomed the 21 PESO Managers coming from the different municipalities, schools and cooperatives in the province. The Vice-Mayor of Alicia, Hon. Remberto G. Sotto, D.M.D., also graced the conference by giving a message on the role of PESO Managers and Sibugaynons in promoting the beauty and peacefulness of Alicia. The two highest officials of the Municipality expressed their happiness and gratitude to the DOLE and the PESO Federation for choosing Alicia as the venue for the 1st PESO Mobile Conference.

The conference proper was facilitated by Mrs. Jocelyn V. Buen, the new PESO Focal of DOLE-ZSFO. The first session was the sharing of best practices and innovations implemented by the PESO Managers for the year 2014. This was done to help new PESO Managers on how to go about with their new designations and have picture of the kind of work they will engage into.

Senior LEO Elamsalih E. Ungad, the Field Office Head of DOLE - ZSFO handled the second session wherein he presented the physical targets and budget of every program allocated to each PESO per congressional district of Zamboanga Sibugay.

The next sessions were then focused on the discussion of the guidelines and documentary requirements of programs like DILEEP, Livelihood under the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting, Government Internship Program (GIP) and SPES. These programs and services are very important to the PESO Managers since this is one of the core functions of PESO which is the employment facilitation.

It is expected that after the conference the PESO Managers will have a clear blueprint on their hands that will help them in achieving their goal of giving full and decent employment to their constituents.

Reported by Brian Paul S. Teves, ZSFO