LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – A total of ₱5.4-Million worth of livelihood assistance checks were released by Governor Amado I. Espino III, to 40 groups during a distribution program recently held at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center (NRSCC) Restaurant in Lingayen.
The provincial chief expressed his gratitude to the recipients for their overwhelming support and patronage to the Provincial Livelihood Assistance Program (PLAP), even as he noted that the latest distribution is the biggest amount released to the batch with the most number of recipients.
Gov Espino stressed that the success of the program relied on the beneficiaries’ timely repayment of their loans. He likewise encouraged newbie grantees to take good care of this entrepreneurial opportunity which has the potential to create more job opportunities in the province.
The young governor bared plans to increase PLAP’s ceiling loan grants to cater to more recipients.
The program marked the 4th batch of distribution for 2017, and the 6th batch of distribution since Gov Pogi took office on July 2016, totaling ₱23-M worth of livelihood assistance granted to various community-based organizations, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME).
The forty recipients for this batch is composed of 24 associations, 11 multi-purpose cooperatives (MPC), and five micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), comprising 1,195 individual beneficiaries who availed of loans ranging from P 50,000 to P 200,000.
According to Provincial Population Officer Ellsworth Gonzales, the program’s current loan accounts have a high repayment rate of 95%. This can be attributed to the beneficiaries’ compliance in paying their loans ahead of time to take advantage of the rebate system.
The rebate system utilized in the program significantly decreases the interest rate to 1.5 percent from the regular 4 percent interest per six-month cycle which can be availed up to 10 cycles.
The Provincial Livelihood Assistance Program (PLAP) is a flagship poverty-reduction program introduced by former governor, now 5th District Representative Amado T. Espino, Jr, in October 2008 to boost the economy by aiding small local entrepreneurs as well as to generate more employment opportunities in the province.
Since its launching, PLAP has released ₱87-M and has assisted more than 22,000 families from the different towns of the province.
By Dexter A. See