San Jose, Occidental Mindoro – Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Juliano-Soliman led the awarding of cheques worth Php300,000.00 each to five barangays in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro last January 24, 2014. Together with the provincial and local government, Sec. Soliman handed over the cheques to the representatives of the SEA-Kaunlaran Associations (SKA) in the five barangays to start their own business.

When asked by Sec. Soliman on where they would use the money, one of the beneficiaries answered, “para po sa sari-sari store”. The SKAs were chosen based on the proposals they made and undergone the process of Bottom-up Budgeting (BUB) also known as National Grassroots Participatory Budgeting (NGPB). Since the proposals pertain to livelihood that the associations want to create, the local government unit adopted the process of implementation and monitoring of the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) of the DSWD. SLP is one of the convergence strategy programs of the Department which aims to uplift the lives of the poorest of the poor people by giving them knowledge, skills, and capital to manage their own livelihood.

“Ang pera pong ito ay puhunan ninyo para kayo ay makapagsimula ng inyong pangkabuhayan at nang sa gayon ay makatulong ito upang maiangat ang antas ng inyong buhay,” said Sec. Soliman while giving the checks.

In addition, a cheque worth Php1.7M was also awarded to the local government of San Jose to start the construction of Bahay Pag-asa in Barangay Pag-asa. Barangay Chairperson Hermie Bleza and Mayor Romulo Festin were present to receive the check. Bahay Pag-asa is a youth center which aims to shelter Children In Conflict with the Law (CICL).

A brief press conference was also held after the short program. Sec. Soliman answered questions regarding the various programs and projects done by the Department in the province.