She was just like other married women. She stayed at home and attended to the needs of her husband and children. Her husband worked as a television technician with a daily income P300.
That was the life of Mylieh Solidio Centina, 50 years of age and a resident of Molo Iloilo City four years back.
With three children, life was hard for them. Her husband’s income was not enough to support their entire family.
But things have changed since Mylieh became a beneficiary of Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
SLP is a community-based capacity building program that increases the economic opportunities of the families through the different modalities that it offers such as skills training, seed capital fund, pre-employment assistance fund, and the cash for building livelihood assets.
Mylieh became a beneficiary of SLP in the year 2012. The said program has given her a three-month training on cooking and baking with the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
That paved the way for her to have a job as a cook at the DSWD regional office canteen.
At present, Mylieh is a permanent cook at the facility. Her children are also in school.
Her oldest child Hannibal, 18 years of age, is on his second year in college taking up Bachelor of Science in Criminology at University of Iloilo. Her middle child, Elizalde Jr, 17 years old, is a grade 11 in the same university. And her youngest child, Caren Grace Centina, 12 years old, is a grade 7 at the Iloilo City National High School.
“ I am thankful to the SLP because it has helped find a job and thus I was able to send my children to school. Also, because of SLP, my skills in cooking and baking was enhanced.”/dswd6/Janine T. Tupino