Financial assistance from Department of Agriculture

A total of 816 poor families in Quezon province received recently some
P4.3 million financial assistance from the Department of Agriculture
(DA) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to be
used for their livelihood projects.

The allocation of the funds to the DSWD and DA is in line with the
Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2011-2016 , which among others, set
in place the cornerstone for national development, officials said.

Officials of DSWD Calabarzon (Region 4-A) led by Acting Asst. regional
director Floreceli Gunio distributed P1.4 million financial assistance
to 607 poor families in the Municipality of Alabat located northeast
of the Lamon Bay in Atimonan town.

Director Gunio said each of the family beneficiaries of the Pantawid
Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) received amounts ranging from P1,000
to P2,800, depending on the number of their children.

She said that the amount was the initial financial assistance for two
months (November and December 2011) to be followed in succeeding
months until 2015, which the beneficiaries would use for the education
and health needs of their children.

Alabat's 4Ps municipal coordinator Benjamin Romero said that "while
enjoying the financial assistance from the government, the
beneficiaries must regularly attend the family development sessions
and strictly abide by the rules stipulated under the 4Ps program."

The DA, on the other hand, allocated P2.9 million to a total of 290
poor families from the various municipalities in Quezon province.

James Agrosinao, chairman of the provincial agricultural and fishery
council (PAFC), said each of the 290 poor families received P10,000
livelihood assistance under the department's "Akbay Pinoy" program.

Agrosinao, however, said that unlike DSWD's 4Ps program, which was
purely for financial assistance, the DA's monetary aid was the form of
a loan but without interest that was aimed at helping poor families in
raising pigs and producing agricultural products.

He said the loan assistance was payable in one year without interest
and once the whole amount is fully paid and returned, it will be
offered to other poor families also as loan assistance for livelihood
activities.

Agrosinao said the PAFC and the DSWD that identified the beneficiaries
from the poorest families in the 4th to 6th class municipalities in
the province, have been tasked to foresee and supervise the
implementation of the projects.