Former House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano’s Sari-saring Pag-asa (SSP) program counts another story of success among its nearly 2,900 beneficiaries.
Emma Peña, a sari-sari store owner from Taguig City, was featured in Thursday’s episode as the latest story of sari-sari store empowerment.
“Noong nabigay niyo po sa’kin y’ung tulong niyo na P3,500, kung noon, kumikita ako ng P500 to P1,000 po, ngayon umaabot na rin ng P2,000,” Peña said in a featured video shown on the program’s livestream on September 16, 2021.
(I used to earn around P500 to P1,000 a day, but when I received the P3,500 in cash aid, I began earning as much as P2,000.)
Before the pandemic, Peña’s store brought in P2,000 to P3,000 a day in earnings, helping to support her family and household.
But because of the lockdowns, sales dropped by 70%. Peña’s inventories got depleted and her community lost access to the goods she supplied through her neighborhood store.
After being selected as a beneficiary of the SSP program, Peña was given an opportunity to recover. She used the P3,500 cash assistance to buy high-demand items like produce, eggs, fresh vegetables, and other necessities.
She also invested back into the business, showing off a refrigerator and freezer purchased through earnings from the store.
“Diskarte lang po sa pagtitinda. Chika-chika, maging mabait sa customer, para maging komportable rin po y’ung mga bumibili sa’yo,” she said.
(Just be strategic in selling. Talk to the customers and be good to them, so they would be comfortable.)
On September 16, 2021, 45 sari-sari store owners from the cities of Las Piñas, Pasig, and Pasay were given P3,500 in cash aid by the SSP program.
Another 30 sari-sari store owners from the Facebook comments section of the program also received cash aid.
The SSP program is the brainchild of Cayetano and his wife Taguig 2nd District Rep. Lani Cayetano to provide struggling sari-sari store owners with P3,500 — P2,500 for restocking and P1,000 for meeting their family’s basic needs.
The program complement’s Cayetano’s weekly Sampung Libong Pag-asa initiative, which was based on the 10K Ayuda Bill proposed in the House. Both programs provide cash assistance to Filipino families and small businesses to help them and their communities recover from the pandemic.
