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 sources of living were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. With this, he encouraged the beneficiaries to utilize the financial assistance they received 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 received.
The first batch of recipients comprising of 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 were: their businesses were their sources of living,, not government employees, not recipients of financial assistance from the government under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act 2, pensioners must be receiving less than P5,000.00, with business permits, and not delinquent taxpayers.
The 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.** Alpine L. Killa, Bontoc LGU