SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique - The provincial government's livelihood assistance has catered to the poorest among inactive overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who has not yet received any livelihood support from other government agencies.

Prisceli Joyce Galuego, Project Development Officer 3 and OFW desk-in-charge under the Antique Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO), made this clarification on Tuesday after they released livelihood assistance to 50 OFWs on October 26.

She said the aid was not given based on political patronage, but rather on conducted assessment.

"Governor Rhodora J. Cadiao had nothing to do with the identification of the beneficiaries of the livelihood assistance," she said in an interview.

The clarifications came due to the comments posted on the Provincial Information Officer (PIO) Live Update that their recipients were identified because of their close affinity with the governor.

Galuego added that there were about 250 beneficiaries of the program since 2017 and many of them used the assistance to set up stores for their livelihood.

"Since we still have the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), we selected the beneficiaries from the roster of applicants in 2018-2019 who were not yet given the livelihood assistance," she explained.

Since they can only give livelihood assistance to 50 beneficiaries per year and the OFW desk received more applications, organizers prioritized the poorest or those who need the assistance.

"A staff of the OFW desk also accompanies the beneficiaries when they encash the check in the bank intended for their assistance and when they buy the grocery items for their business," she said.

The beneficiaries, who have either existing grocery stores already or are still putting up one, are also being monitored by the OFW Desk to find out how they are doing with their livelihood. (PNA)