Apaliteño gets P100-K livelihood assi st an ce

APALIT - A small time piggery business owner on Tuesday received additional financial capital from the local government here as part of the continuous assistance provided to micro and small entrepreneurs.

Mayor Peter Nucom personally handed the check amounting to P100,000 to Edward Mutuc, a resident of Barangay Balucuc, who is engaged in backyard farming to sustain his family’s needs.

According to Mutuc, he started his business by buying and raising a piglet before he sold it to meat and poultry vendors in the market. He then used his earnings to purchase another piglet until he made some profit.

Recently, Mutuc disclosed that he was able to raise and sell ten pigs to slaughterhouses, where his sales were able to help in providing for the education and basic needs of his children.

In the hope that he can expand his business, Mutuc said he tried to reach out and look for possible livelihood assistance programs offered by the local government here that he can avail of.

“I was told by people of the municipal government that there was an ongoing livelihood assistance program. I submitted the requirements and I was then given P100,000 additional capital,” he said.

Mutuc said he will use the grant to buy piglets, as well as other requisites in raising them such as feeds, boosters and vitamins, and maintenance of the pigpens to also ensure that his business will not create environmental and health problems in their community.

Meanwhile, Nucom said that the assistance given to Mutuc is part of the local government’s program to promote entrepreneurship among small-time farmers who wish to utilize the agricultural knowledge in uplifting their lives.

He stressed that the local government continues to look for farmers engaged in different agricultural activities such as piggery and poultry, who wish to venture in agribusiness.

“We are really looking for farmers who want to venture to agribusiness. We assist them by granting them additional capital to help their businesses grow,” he said.

However, Nucom reminded that all beneficiaries of the program will be monitored to ensure proper utilization of the financial grant.

Should there be recipients who would try to use the cash assistance in activities unrelated to their indicated business, Nucom said that it will equate to forfeiture of the grant and blacklisting of their names on government programs.