CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga (PIA) -- Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Central Luzon continues to provide livelihood aid to vulnerable sectors amid the pandemic. 
 
DSWD Regional Director Marites Maristela said the agency has several comprehensive social welfare programs and services to address the welfare needs of various disadvantaged sectors.
 
“We have services from womb to tomb, meaning we have programs from pre-marriage counseling to programs for the elderly. These social welfare programs were developed to cater to the needs of the youth, abandoned and neglected children, disadvantaged women, elderly, persons with disabilities, and former rebels,” she said. 
 
The director said that as a member of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, DSWD is implementing sustainable livelihood program by giving livelihood settlement grants to former rebels. 
 
Maristela said that qualified beneficiaries of the program are those with Joint AFP-PNP Intelligence Committee (JAPIC) certification who are filtered and assessed by uniformed officials. 
 
Aside from former rebels, she said that also included in the program beneficiaries are those living in conflict-affected and vulnerable areas.
 
“We provide livelihood to them because our goal is to improve and increase the economic productivity in their areas to help them meet their basic needs. That way, we aim for them to be more active in such activities to prevent their attention from any other destructive activities that can affect the peace and order of their areas,” the director said. 
 
Records showed that in 2021, DSWD served 84 beneficiaries from Nueva Ecija, who received P20,000 each for former rebels and P10,000 each for beneficiaries from conflict-vulnerable and affected areas. 
 
Currently, Maristela said that the beneficiaries are engaged in different livelihood ventures like hog fattening and sari-sari stores. 
 
Aside from the cash grant to start their own business, DSWD continuously monitors and guides the beneficiaries to make their projects sustainable by sharing with them best practices of other beneficiaries. 
 
“This livelihood settlement grant is just a point of entry. If there are other needs of their respective households, our social workers are there to assess. If they have other needs, they can always be referred to other programs and services that DSWD has,” she said. 
 
Maristela stressed that what DSWD aims through the program is for the people to feel that the government is ready to help and support them so that they can eventually live a new life in their communities.
 
Aside from the livelihood aid, DSWD aids individuals in crisis situations like those who are confined in hospitals with huge hospital bills or young people in need of educational assistance from difficult families. 
 
“We have various assistance under this program including medical, financial, burial, educational, and food assistance. This is usually given in the form of cash and there are different ranges of cash grants depending on the crisis that one experiences,” she said. (CLJD/MJSC-PIA 3)