PH Red Cross distributes cash grant to Legazpi City residents

By Connie Calipay

LEGAZPI CITY --- The Philippine Red Cross (PRC), together with the Canadian Red Cross, distributed conditional cash grants to 62 individuals from the vulnerable sector for livelihood support at the Legazpi City Convention Center on Friday.

Bea Aguilar, PRC national project coordinator, said the identified beneficiaries from the city received PHP50,000 as the first tranche of the PHP100,000 grant, with the remainder expected to be disbursed within the year.

“It is divided into three tranches. All beneficiaries will get PHP50,000; for the second tranche, it’s PHP30,000, and PHP20,000 for the third tranche,” she said, referring to the recipients from the villages of Lapu-Lapu, San Roque, Taysan, Homapon and Cagbacong.

Aguilar added that in partnership with Bicol University (BU) and the city government of Legazpi, the beneficiaries attended 14 sessions and submitted proposals for their livelihood projects.

“During the sessions and training, beneficiaries learned how to prepare proposals and present them individually to representatives of PRC, the Canadian Red Cross, and BU. Most projects are in food production, such as piggery, sari-sari (convenience) stores, and canteens,” she said.

The PRC will continue to monitor the beneficiaries during project implementation.

“One of our key conditions is that the grant must be used solely for livelihood. Starting next week, we will begin our weekly monitoring and conduct liquidation to see how they spent the grant,” Aguilar said.

She emphasized that PRC is not solely for disaster response but also works to improve people's livelihoods. (PNA)