CEBU CITY – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Cebu turned over “Negosyo Kits” worth P10,000 each to 44 microentrepreneurs in Lapulapu City, who were victims of a recent fire, and 41 members of the Boat Owners of Moalboal Island Hopping Association (BOHIMA) Inc. under the DTI’s Pangkabuhayan sa pagBangon at Ginhawa Program (PBG) program as of July this year.
According to the DTI-Cebu Officer-in-Charge Provincial Director Rose Mae Quiñanola, the PBG is a livelihood seeding and entrepreneurship development program that aims to assist individuals and families affected by fire incidents and other calamities, including health disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic, and those who will avail of the Balik Probinsya Program to recover and or start their businesses.
Quiñanola said that the beneficiaries from Lapulapu City, consisting of 38 microentrepreneurs from Barangay Gun-ob and six microentrepreneurs from Barangay Mactan received the Negosyo Kits in coupon form that enabled them to choose and avail of various merchandise items or sari-sari goods to restore or improve their businesses.
The P10,000-coupon for the PBG Negosyo Kit may be redeemed for groceries, kitchenware, clothing and textile items at the Gaisano Grand Mall in Mactan which the beneficiaries can use for their enterprise, Quiñanola added.
PBG Program Beneficiary Ginalyn Jimenez, mother of two from Barangay Mactan Lapu-lapu City, recounted that her sari-sari store was totally damaged in the fire and thanked the DTI for this assistance.
Jimenez said that the Negosyo Kit coupon was really a big help for her to be able to rise up again and continue with her sari-sari store, her only source of livelihood.
Meantime, 41 boat owners who are all members of BOHIMA, also received the Negosyo Kits during the reopening of tourism sites held at the Moalboal Park with Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Moalboal Mayor Paz Rozgoni, DTI Asec. Asteria Caberte, DOT-7 Dir. Shalimar Tamano, and other members of BOHIMA that attended the event.
BOHIMA president Marechel Mercado received a UV Lamp from DTI Assistant Secretary Asteria Caberte as symbolic gesture of acceptance of the starter kits by qualified members of the association.
Mercado expressed appreciation for DTI' s quick response to their plea for assistance and was grateful for providing the necessary items they requested. She believed that DTI's move has made a huge contribution to the municipality's major source of livelihood --- tourist island hopping services.
Since tourism is the main industry in Moalboal the Negosyo Kits are timely. At least 300 boatmen and boat crew from the BOMIHA were affected by the COVID-19 crisis, according to Rolie Alderite, tourism officer of Moalboal town.
“There are at least 200 tourist guides registered and unregistered in the town’s tourism office who are also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic," Alderite added.
Apart from the DTI-PBG Negosyo Kits, all 85 beneficiaries received food packs and facemasks from the office of Senator Go, one of the partners of the PBG program. (Photos: DTI-7/Jojisilia Villamor)