Kalinga fund recipients hit for vices

By Larry T. Lopez

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Some local folks have found a way to live up to their vices like drinking, smoking or gambling – courtesy of the government’s Pantawid Program which gives funds to supposedly impoverished families.

This reached the ears of Cordillera Social Welfare director Leonardo Reynoso who told Pantawid beneficiaries to change their ways for the better other than indulging in negative activities.

"While government gives its best to assist the poor, we who come from the less-privileged sector (alluding to the recipients) must do our part to achieve desired results of these efforts," Leonardo said during the awarding of Pantawid livelihood checks here recently.

Reports reaching authorities in the province cited a number of Pantawid beneficiaries who have not improved their values and still engage in debilitating vices.

As way of encouraging recipients to use the aid rightly, Reynoso said these were not grants but soft loans to be returned back, interest-free, to serve other families.

He said that recipients with good track records are given priority in future releases of the same financial assistance.

Some ice cream vendors in the province, who were recipients of earlier aids, have been cited for being able to return their borrowed capital to the Department of Social Works and Development.

"This is the right attitude of people the government wants to help under its poverty reduction program - helping people who help themselves," Leonardo said.- PIA