And after we interviewed the women, we were contacted by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Dr Richard Rosado, one of the executive members of the LIU. He explained that these women were not fired, but rather the two that have graduated will be moving on to the next phase of the program, during which they will receive their assistance. Here's what he told us via Zoom.
DCP Dr. Richard Rosado, Executive Member, LIU
"The social intervention programs - all the participants were informed of the phases of the social intervention program when initially they would enter into a temporary work program, followed by the development of marketable skills, then they would eventually transition into the entrepreneurship program that will culminate into them opening their small businesses where the government has agreed to give them assistance to do their start-up through the necessary equipment."
"It is important to understand that the financial year for the government just recently started and we have made the necessary request for the reservations of the funds to purchase the equipment to give them the start-up."
"We are sourcing the items, we are identifying suppliers, so the process takes some time. But I am confident that within the next 2 weeks or so they will get the necessary assistance to start up their small business. They were all briefed in the ceremony as what the next stage would be, which would be the entrepreneurship program which they will eventually enter into opening their small businesses. So all that was communicated to them. If they were absent from that ceremony then I believe we should have reached out to them and inform them. But all I ask is that give patient with us and the process takes some time, but they will definitely get the necessary assistance."
Dr Rosado also committed to reaching out to the women to clarify the situation.
