To prepare them for their eventual graduation from the PANTAWID PAMILYANG PILIPINO PROGRAM or PANTAWID PAMILYA, 82 beneficaries of Jiabong in Western Samar, are soon to receive their capital assistance, under the Department’s Sustainable Livelihood Program.

The DSWD Field Office Eight, represented by Project Evaluation Officers Roland Uy and Benjie Pelen, conducted last week a Small Business Management Training in said town. In coordination with the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office under Ailene Labrague, the undertaking was meant to orient beneficiaries on the program policies, as well as to equip them with the knowledge and skills on how to become a successful entrepreneur.

Said Pelen, the PANTAWID PAMILYA beneficiaries selected were those with existing livelihood projects and interested to go into further businesses. He added that the projects chosen were more on agricultural production, based on the available local resources.

Labrague, meanwhile, bared that their ventures are mostly on peanut and abaca production and upland rice farming, and a few only on mussel production. She explained that though mussel or “tahong” is abundant in the municipality, most of those who are in the trade are not PANTAWID PAMILYA beneficiaries and are residing in the “poblacion.”

Said Labrague, they come from the municipality’s 15 barangays, and are beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer scheme of PANTAWID PAMILYA since 2009, and which is to end after five years. “They cannot be depending on the cash grants to sustain their children’s health/nutrition and education; they need to be economically active in order to be empowered,” DSWD Field Office Eight Director Leticia Diokno emphasized.

The said families, who were formed into a livelihood association, will receive each a non-collateral and interest-free loan of Php 10,000.00 before the year ends. The community – based association is a credit conduit which utilizes peer pressure and savings mobilization as important components of the program.