Pantawid Pamilya Partner-Beneficiaries Open Water Refilling Station

It is said that water is life. No human being can survive without it. Water is essential for human health and well-being.

The importance of water to people’s lives, serves as one of driving forces of 30 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program partner-beneficiaries to open a water refilling station in a housing relocation site in Brgy. Tipolo, Mandaue City.

The project was a collaboration between the DSWD-7 through its Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) and the City Government of Mandaue.

“Isip presidente sa SLP diri sa Lower Tipolo Housing Association Inc. (LTHAI), dako akung pasalamat kay kini makatabang sa kita sa among pamilya ug makabayad mi sa among mga balay (Being the president of SLP here in Lower Tipolo Housing Association Inc. (LTHAI), I’m grateful for this since this will be an additional income for our family and we can pay the equity of our houses),” Rosanna Santillan said.

Houses located in danger zone areas were demolished and most of the households are partner-beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya. They were then transferred in a 1.6 hectares housing relocation site.

The partner-beneficiaries were also trained on enterprise development and how they will manage their own business. They were also taught on simple bookkeeping, recording and business management.

The City Government of Mandaue also helped in providing a lot for the water refilling station building.

“Gipili namu kini nga water refilling station kay tanan man gud diri mugamit na ug bottled water ug arun dili na mulakaw ug layo para mupalit ug tubig (We chose to have this water refilling station business because everybody is already using mineral water and so they won’t walk far just to buy water),” added Rosanna.

Rossana also emphasized that some of the husbands render extra time in building the water refilling station. She cited that after a day’s work, the husbands would help in the building construction.

“Ang tubig konektado sa atung kinabuhi. Kining tubig makatabang usab sa among panginabuhi busa ato kining ampingan nga kahinguhaan (Water is connected to our life. This water will also help in our livelihood so we need to take care of this resources),” Rossana said.

A community-based capacity building program, SLP increases the economic opportunities of the families through the different modalities that it offers such as skills training, seed capital fund, pre-employment assistance fund, and the cash for building livelihood assets.

It is implemented through the Community-Driven Enterprise Development Approach which equips program participants to actively contribute to production and labor markets by looking at available resources and accessible markets. (PR – Kerwin Macopia)