By Hilda Austria/PNA
BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan — The municipal government of Bayambang is this year’s nationwide winner of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) PANATA GAPAS (Panata ko sa Bayan, Gawad Paglilingkod sa Sambayanan) award for its exceptional support to the sustainable livelihood program (SLP) of its indigent citizens.
Arlene Sison, project development officer of DSWD in this town, said Bayambang town bested all 18 entries for the search for local government unit (LGU) implementing outstanding SLP under PANATA GAPAS 2019.
“From among the 18, there were four finalists including Real, Quezon; Nueva Vizcaya; Ormoc, Leyte; and Bayambang. The four finalists were validated by DSWD last January 31 and February 1 and Bayambang was adjudged winner,” Sison said in an interview Wednesday.
The town’s LGU, she explained, was worthy of the award for its exemplary support to the Masagana SLP Producers Cooperative, which is composed of beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program.
Sison said the cooperative, which was formed on December 2016 and formally registered as cooperative on February 2018, has been receiving different aids from the LGU in support to its SLP.
Ninety members of Masagana Cooperative, 23 of them are already registered in SLP, are into eco-bags making and dressmaking, among others. The LGU is the main customer of their products, she said.
“Bayambang also has long term goal for the indigent members of the cooperative enclosed within its Bayambang Poverty Reduction Action Team Plan. It has also tapped different agencies and foundations such as the Kasama Kita sa Barangay Foundation Inc. to support the cooperative,” she said.
“Whatever the LGU can provide for the cooperative, they would do so. Their support is really there with the aim to zero poverty in their town through different programs and projects together with the national government,” she added.
Meanwhile, the award ceremony will be held in Malate, Manila on February 15.
