From Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (Pantawid Pamilya) to other interventions, one community in this part of Northern Samar province started to be re-awakened. The once passive people were turned to be active citizens now.
Barangay Francisco of Catubig is now working its way to become self-reliant via a group of 85 Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries who embarked on the coconut water vinegar enterprise. They put together their resources, coconut being a major industry of the town.
Project Development Officer, Adam Stephen Baldota, of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office Eight Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) said the project is an initiative of the barangay, supported by the municipal government under Mayor Galahad Vicencio.
“They can now act what’s best for them,” Baldota revealed. The community folks learned it from the time the DSWD helped them get out of poverty through its Convergence Strategy Program. Added Baldota, these people belong to the first batch of Pantawid Pamilya (a conditional cash transfer program) beneficiaries in the region.
Being Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries, they were prioritized of various benefits from the convergence efforts of DSWD and other partner – agencies. They were able to avail of the capital assistance from the non-collateral and interest – free loan program from the Department’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).
Organized into the Pantawid Francisco Self Employment Assistance – Kaunlaran Association, they went into individual small – scale businesses with co – responsibility over each other’s loan by using peer pressure and forced savings as essential features of the program. Their ventures ranged from sari-sari store to hog – raising to farming.
“Almost all of them are fully – paid with their loans,” announced Baldota. He said that now, with or without government intervention, the folks of Francisco are going straight forward to development. Through self-help, their coconut water vinegar has become a growing enterprise.
There is ongoing production, and they market their goods to the neighboring municipalities. Recently, they were able to sell 80 bottles in a trade fair in the capital town of Catarman in Northern Samar.
Very soon, a production center will stand in the community through the DSWD’s funding support. No less than the community folks themselves will work on the construction after they undergo training on carpentry.
Said Baldota, they have linked with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for them to be trained on proper packaging, and that the Technical Services Development Authority (TESDA) has earlier conducted a training on the production of quality coconut water vinegar. “They have the national certificate and they are eligible as trainers,” he further stated.
Indeed, if there’s a will, there’s a way !