Farmers, 4Ps beneficiaries get aid from DSWD, DOLE

CEBU, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Labor and Employment in Region 7 have provided livelihood programs to Cebu and Bohol farmers and Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries.

DSWD-7 continues to strengthen the implementation of communal and backyard gardening project among 4Ps partner-beneficiaries especially during this pandemic to empower them and promote good health among poor Filipino families.

Gardening aims to help address the nutrition concerns of beneficiaries by encouraging families to use indigenous seeds and organic fertilizer to grow vegetables within their own communities or households.

The agency has incorporated knowledge and skills enhancement training in the family development sessions of 4Ps beneficiaries to enable them to become productive members of society and to provide them support for self-sufficiency.

The 4Ps beneficiaries like the family of Judith Mimbalawag of Balidbid, Santa Fe, Cebu and the Estorgio family in Panghagban, Buenavista, Bohol both engaged into gardening and cultivated their farm, respectively, as a source of their daily consumption and at the same time as a source of their livelihood.

Mimbalawag said that gardening is already part of their daily routine and each of her four children has tasks in tending their family garden that has a wide variety of vegetables like onion, garlic, eggplant, ginger, cabbage, pumpkin and many more.

Recently, the Mimbalawag family received recognition as the municipal level winner for the SUGBUsog or the “Sugbuanong Busog, Luwas ug Himsog,” a vegetable gardening contest organized by the Cebu Provincial Government.

The Estorgio couple, Marcelo and Clarita, are also engaged in vegetable farming since 2010 after they received the lump sum cash grant from 4Ps amounting to P9,500 wherein part of the money was used as capital for a vegetable farm including the vegetable seeds and garden equipment.

During the initial harvest, the Estorgios sold their vegetable produced in the town’s market day. Now, the family expanded their market and delivers to the neighboring towns like Getafe, Sagbayan, Inabanga, Danao and Tagbilaran City.

On the other hand, DOLE-7 has recently released over P4 million in livelihood assistance to more than 200 beneficiaries in Bohol Province.

The beneficiaries, DOLE-7 Regional Director Salome Siaton said are mostly farmers and fisherfolks in the six barangays of the Municipality of Guindulman, a coastal town located in the southeastern part of the province.

“From the 6 different barangays of Guindulaman, 6 associations also have become the latest recipients of the DOLE livelihood program in the province,” said Siaton.

DOLE-7 also provided livelihood assistance amounting to P1 million to the Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Can-asujan (NAMACAN) in Carcar City, Cebu.

NAMACAN is just one of the associations provided with livelihood assistance under the DOLE’s Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (DILEEP).

Siaton urged the beneficiaries to take care of their business.

“It’s not every day that the DOLE releases one million pesos to associations that would want to go into business. Meaning to say, this is such a big opportunity for them- something that they must nurture and ensure that it will thrive and last,” Siaton added. — GMR (FREEMAN)