SIARGAO ISLAND – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) handed an amount of PhP 54,200 as Livelihood Settlement Grant and Transitory Shelter Assistance to Reny Boy Dramayo and his family – a beneficiary of the Balik-Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa (BP2) in San Bentio, Surigao del Norte on September 8, 2021.

Dramayo’s family is the first family recipient to receive such assistance from the DSWD Field Office Caraga.

Through the DSWD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program, Dramayo and his family received a check amounting to PHP 50,000 which will serve as livelihood assistance and allow them to venture into a livelihood of their choice. In this respect, Dramayo shared that their family will make use of the assistance to set up a hog-fattening project.

“Gamiton namo ang kwarta para makasugod mi sa among babuyan kay kini among nakita nga maka-income gyud mi (We opt to utilize this money and start a hog-fattening business because we have observed that this kind of business is really profitable).”

Aside from the livelihood assistance SLP, the family also received transitory shelter assistance of PhP 4,200 to help them settle their rental expenses from June to December of their temporary shelter at Barangay San Juan, San Benito.

After receiving the said assistance, Reny Boy expressed how grateful he was to the DSWD and to the Local Government Unit (LGU) of San Benito.

“Nagapasalamat ko sa tanang tabang nga gihatag sa amo sa DSWD ug sa LGU San Benito. Dili lalim akong kinaagi sa kinabuhi pero tungod sa ilaha, nahatagan mi og paglaom nga magsugod usab (I am thankful bto the DSWD and LGU San Benito for all the help they have extended to us. Our life has not been easy, but they [DSWD and LGU San Benito] gave us hope to start all over again),” Reny Boy said.

Reny Boy and his family used to reside at Alima, Bacoor, Cavite City but after they lost their home to a fire incident and experienced financial struggles due to the pandemic, the head of the family decided to return to Surigao del Norte – his hometown province.

BP2 is an initiative of the Philippine Government which aims to decongest urban poor communities especially in the National Capital Region and allow individuals and families to return to their hometown or relocate to new resettlement areas to begin a new life.

In DSWD, the SLP is the core program delegated to implement the livelihood component of the BP2.