960 Cagayan Valley folks get livelihood grants

By Oliver T. Baccay

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan -- Some 960 folks severely affected by Covid-19 global pandemic received livelihood grants from the office of the 3rd Congressional District through the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development Region 2.
    3rd District Rep. Joseph Lasam-Lara said each beneficiary received from P5,000 to P10,000 cash grants, patterned from the Social Amelioration Program of the government for those who lost jobs and livelihood to the pandemic. 
    He said the program will help affected families re-establish their livelihood activities.
    "We know this pandemic greatly affected the lives of our people, likewise our economy. [The economy] is really down because of the restrictions set by the government to contain the further spread of the virus. That is why we intended to give this assistance to help affected families," Lara said.
    He said he sponsored 218 scholars enrolled in various programs of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to provide skills for self-employment training for employment purposes.
    Meanwhile, Juan Zalun of the DSWD urged beneficiaries to use grants to establish their respective livelihood programs so they could earn for their families amid the pandemic. 
    "There will be social welfare officers who will do the monitoring so that we can assess if you really used the grant according to its purpose," he said. 
    He added the DSWD will look for other programs that will help other individuals who were also affected by the global pandemic. – PIA Cagayan