PALAWAN – A total of 1,116 indigent residents from this province have received livelihood grants from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through its Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) from November 28 to December 12, 2022.

Each beneficiary received P15,000 to P20,000 to establish livelihood activities in their community or expand their existing micro-enterprise ventures.

Pagsasambatu SLPA from Brgy. Inogbong, Bataraza, the only association during the payout, was granted P300,000.00 to fund their community store, benefiting its 56 members.

The two-week distribution of the regional DSWD has disbursed more than P16 million grants to all qualified beneficiaries of the province. The city and municipalities that received the grants included Puerto Princesa, Cuyo, Roxas, San Vicente, Dumaran, El Nido, Araceli, Coron, Taytay, Aborlan, Narra, Sofronio Española, Brooke’s Point, Bataraza, Rizal, and Quezon.

Meanwhile, the SLP personnel and partner agencies reminded the beneficiaries to utilize the fund wisely and to practice proper budgeting to achieve positive livelihood outcomes.

The distribution of the livelihood grants became possible in coordination with the local government units, Office of the 2^nd District headed by the office of Cong. Jose Chaves Alvarez, Office of Cong. Edward Hagedorn of the 3^rd District, and Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist and Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC) through the Poverty Reduction, Livelihood, and Employment Cluster (PRLEC) of TESDA as head secretariat.

The SLP is a capability-building program for the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized households and communities that aims to improve their socio-economic conditions through accessing and acquiring necessary assets to engage in and maintain thriving livelihoods.