ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE—The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office IX (DSWD 9) has disbursed a total of Php 8,010,000.00 Capital Assistance Grant to members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) that belong to the Indigenous Peoples (IP) group. This grant amounting to Php 15,000 per family serves as a starting capital for IP families who wish to venture into business for livelihood.

A total of 534 families from the municipalities of Godod, Gutalac, Salug, and Sibuco in Zamboanga Del Norte benefitted from the Capital Assistance Grant – Enhanced Support Service Intervention (CAG-ESSI) of the 4Ps.

“Kini nga asistensya, gamiton ninyo sa pagpalambo sa inyong pamilya. Matag usa, bantayan ang kauban. Ang 4Ps, dugang lang sa kung unsa ang naa na, (Use this assistance to improve the well-being of your family. Watch out and help each other. 4Ps is just an augmentation to what you already have),” 4Ps Regional Program Coordinator, Flordeliza A. Atuy said in her message during the grant distribution last September 05 in Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte.

The Capital Assistance Grant or CAG was established as an Enhanced Support Service Intervention under the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer (MCCT) of the 4Ps. This ensures that our family-beneficiaries that belong to the minority Indigenous Peoples (IPs) tribes are given opportunities for livelihood and self-sustenance.

Many of the recipients of this intervention plan to venture into hog raising and sari-sari store with this grant from the CAG-ESSI.

Nedelyn U. Comisas, 41 years old, widow and a mother of 3 from Barangay Lintangan, Sibuco, Zamboanga Del Norte was in tears when she received the capital assistance grant. According to her, it has been such a struggle to raise 3 children especially since her husband died due to cardiac arrest in 2013. As a solo parent, the Capital Assistance Grant addresses a big chunk of her daily difficulties from providing the necessities of her children at home, in school, and ensuring a decent life for her family.

The Php 15,000 livelihood grant that she received will be used to augment her sari-sari store business to be able to suffice the needs of her eldest who is currently in college.

Nedelyn has been a beneficiary of the 4Ps MCCT since 2008.

—————————————————————————————————————-

The Modified Conditional Cash Transfer Program is a sub-component of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program which uses a modified approach in implementing the CCT program for poor families including Homeless, Indigenous Peoples, and Families in Need of Special Protection (FNSP). Salient features of the MCCT include modification in terms of targeting, conditionalities, program interventions and mode of implementation.

It is a modified approach to reach the poor families who are not registered in the regular conditional cash transfer (CCT) program due to their current situation such as lack of physical structure for the homeless, the indigenous people mobility/itinerant which exclude them during the conduct of enumeration resulting to the non-inclusion in the regular CCT.