CEBU, Philippines — Over 130 indigent families have so far availed of the small business loan of the Cebu City government through the Department of Social Welfare and Services in the first seven months of 2024.
As of July 2024, DSWS reported 139 applications for its Self-Employment Assistance Program (SEAP). With barely four months remaining in 2024, DSWS is projecting a lesser number of beneficiaries this year compared to last year’s.
According to DSWS, there were 1,743 residents from different barangays who availed of the short-term financial loan assistance to either build-up their livelihood or start a new one.
The city government distributed more than P10 million in 2023 to the beneficiaries of the short-term loan program at zero-interest. The SEAP used to be a program handled by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) with the aim of providing a start-up capital to poor households who want to pursue a small-time business as a form of poverty alleviation.
SEAP has been a great help to the city’s small-time business owners, especially those who were affected financially during the CoViD-19 pandemic. Most of those who availed the program are vendors and farmers from the city’s mountain barangays.
Through SEAP beneficiaries can borrow P5,000 that is payable within one year at zero percent interest.
“Once mabayaran nila in a year ang ilang gihuwaman, maka-qualify sila nga makahuwam again, pero times two na ang ilang mahuwam,” said DSWS-SEAP focal person Zenaida Nacional.
Repeat borrowers can loan a maximum of P10,000 from the program. Only Cebu City residents earning less than P10, 000 a month, not employed whether in a private or government office, and has an existing small-time business can qualify for the program.
Nacional said beneficiaries can qualify for the SEAP once they submit an endorsement from the barangay captain, the barangay’s Gender and Development (GAD) focal person, or from a barangay councilor.
The beneficiary will then undergo a validation process and must undergo a half-day skills training seminar at the Department of Manpower Development and Placement before he or she can receive the loan, Nacional said.
Once the qualification process is completed, the beneficiary must wait for at least three to four weeks before he or she will receive the loan. DSWS will monitor the beneficiary’s use of the loan, including his or her loan payments to the city. –/FPL (FREEMAN)