DSWD eyes P15K livelihood aid to small-time vendors, store owners

Plastic barriers are in place between vendors and buyers at a public market in downtown Los Baños, Laguna — a preventive measure to avoid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). KIMMY BARAOIDAN/INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is mulling to provide P15,000 livelihood assistance to small-time vendors and sari-sari store owners whose source of income was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

This plan of DSWD came about as it revealed “savings” amounting to P10 billion from the government’s social amelioration program (SAP) during Tuesday’s Senate deliberations on the agency’s proposed 2021 budget.

DSWD officials said they intend to tap the “savings” to bankroll the livelihood aid.

“We have already made our proposal for the P10 billion. We will be covering around 664,726 households for the provision of livelihood assistance grant at P15,000. ‘Yun po ang aming plan. If it will be given to us to be utilized for the livelihood assistance grant,” said Restituto Macuto, national manager for sustainable livelihood program of DSWD.

“Ang ating tinatarget po dito ‘yung ating mga kababayan na mga informal vendors, ‘yung mga nasa palengke, ‘yung nagtitinda ng mga gulay, ‘yung iba sari-sari store. We have already oriented our LGUs for this particular program,” he added.

(We are targeting vendors in the wet markets, those selling vegetables and owners of sari-sari stores. We have already oriented our LGUs for this particular program.)

Asked which local government units will receive the said grant for their constituents, Macuto said the DSWD will conduct an assessment to determine the beneficiaries of the grant.

“Priority po natin dito ‘yung ating mga vendors na nagtitinda po. The local government unit will submit proposal to us then we will assess kung kaya ng ating mga beneficiary dito na mag-undergo into a livelihood,” the DSWD official said.

(We will prioritize small-time vendors. The local government unit will submit a proposal to us  then we will assess who has the ability to effectively use the livelihood grant.)

The plan for the livelihood assistance was brought up when Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto pressed the DSWD on how it would utilize the P10 billion in unreleased SAP funds.

DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista said the money was saved after the number of low-income family SAP beneficiaries was trimmed from 18 million during the first wave of distribution to 14 million households.

READ: DSWD clarifies: Areas picked for SAP’s 2nd tranche based on jointly-approved guidelines

“We still have a remaining P10 billion. It’s still within our fund and depending on what will be the instruction of the DBM [Department of Budget and Management] whether to realign this to other projects for recovery or return to the Treasury,” Bautista said upon Recto’s questioning.

But Recto said it would not “make sense” to return the amount when there are Filipino families still needing assistance amid the health crisis.

“Dapat itulong sa mga tao… Saan natin gagastusin ‘yung remaining P10 billion?” Recto asked DSWD officials.

(This should be used to help Filpinos…where will we use this P10 billion?)

In response, Bautista said the DSWD intends to use the P10 billion for projects that would help Filipinos recover from the pandemic.

“We have already the proposal but as we have mentioned, this should be approved by the Office of the President,” Bautista added.

EDV/KGA