“Wala ko magdahom nga mahitabo ni namo. Blessing ni, kinsay magtuo nga nitambong ra mi sa barangay assembly tapos nakadawat mig livelihood grant,” said Milagros Cabras, president of the Pooc Entrepreneurs Association based in Talisay City in Cebu province.

(I did not expect this to happen to us. This is a blessing, who would have thought that we only attended the barangay assembly and after that, we received a livelihood grant.)

The Pooc Entrepreneurs Association, which is composed of 24 housewives and active members of Barangay Talisay’s women association, was officially formed on April 21 through Executive Order (EO) No. 70, Series of 2018.

Under EO 70, which created the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), former rebels and residents in Conflict-Vulnerable Areas (CVA) will benefit from peace programs in fulfillment and attainment of a sustainable, just, and lasting peace.

Through the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), the association received Php300,000 as a Seed Capital Fund (SCF) for their proposed sari-sari store enterprise.

To prepare them for the establishment of their business, Milagros shared that they gained valuable knowledge from the orientation provided by the SLP.

“Sa unang adlaw sa among pag sugod ug tinda, nihalin mi ug 26,000 sugod ato amo gyud kining gipaningkamotan nga tuloy2x na gyud ug among ma prove wrong ang uban nga nag-ingon nga dili mag dugay ang among grupo ug ang tindahan,” said Milagros.

(On the first day when we opened our store, we sold Php26,000. We are really trying to keep it up and we will prove wrong those who say that our group and the store will not last long.)

Their earnings on their first day served as a motivation to the members to double up their efforts and cheerfully take turns in manning their store. From their daily earnings of Php17,000 to Php19,000, they were able to post a high of more than Php271,000 after two months of operation.

Meanwhile, Gloria Dasera, the association’s treasurer, expressed her gratitude to the SLP and to their project development officer (PDO) for the technical assistance given to them, especially in record-keeping and business management.

“Og magkalisod ko aning pag handle sa among kwarta naa man dayon si sir Anthony ang SLP PDO, nga motabang nako na mapasayon ang akong pag record, andam kaayo siya permi,” said Gloria.

(If I had difficulty handling our financial records, Sir Anthony, the SLP PDO, was always ready to help and make the work easier.)

The new women entrepreneurs are confident that the skills they acquired will help them to sustain their business and address the challenges they will face in the future.

Gloria also mentioned that they regard the store as their biggest achievement and blessing. She said that this opportunity would not have been possible without the livelihood assistance from the SLP and the Barangay Local Government Unit (BLGU) which allowed them to use their old Barangay Hall as the location for their store without charging any rent.

Currently, the association is planning to expand the business by selling home-cooked meals.

The SLP is a capability building program that aims to improve the socio-economic conditions by providing livelihood opportunities through micro-enterprise development (MD) or employment facilitation (EF).

In the Central Visayas region alone, the DSWD through its Field Office-7, has served a total of 1,086 individuals or 110 organized Sustainable Livelihood Program Associations (SLPA) in Conflict-Vulnerable Areas (CVA) disbursing more than Php12 million in seed capital fund from 2020 to 2023. #