BONTOC, Mountain Province – Thirty small-time entrepreneurs recently received P15, 000 each from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on May 31, 2021, at the Mayor’s Conference Hall of the Bontoc Municipal Capitol.
The recipients are the second batch of beneficiaries of the livelihood assistance grants (LAG), a form of financial assistance granted to families whose livelihoods were affected by the implementation of the community quarantine. This is funded under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act 2.
During the pay-out, Bontoc Mayor Franklin Odsey expressed the profound gratitude of Bontoc to the DSWD for its assistance to the small-scale entrepreneurs whose source of living was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. With this, he encouraged the beneficiaries to utilize the financial assistance they receive as capital or additional fund for their respective businesses.
The mayor added that the taxes being paid by businesses go back to the community in the form of projects and programs like what the beneficiaries have received.
The first batch of recipients comprising 40 small-time vendors, owners of sari-sari stores, coffee shops, eateries, salons, and barbershops received their financial assistance of P15, 000 each December 14, 2020, at the Bontoc Municipal Capitol auditorium.
The requirements in the identification of recipients are the source of living is their business, not a government employee, not a recipient of any financial assistance of the government under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act 2, not a pensioner or receiving a pension that is below P5, 000, with a business permit, and not a delinquent taxpayer.
On its website, DSWD said LAG is one of the recovery and rehabilitation programs of the government to serve families whose livelihood took a dip due to the quarantine measures and health crisis.
By Alpine L. Killa
Photo by Armando M. Bolislis
