The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Region 12 (Soccsksargen) is pushing for the completion within the month of the ongoing assessment of poor households in the region for possible inclusion into the government’s social protection programs.

Cezario Joel Espejo, DSWD-12 director, said they already covered about 78 percent of the 815,343 households that were targeted for the updating of the “Listahanan” or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) database.

Espejo said they already surveyed a total of 633,971 households in the entire Soccsksargen as of the first week of February.

Last week, he said personnel from their central office led by lawyer Justin Caesar Batocabe, Director III of the National Household Targeting Office, visited the region and inspected the ongoing assessment.

Espejo assured the integrity and reliability of the survey data based on the standards set by their central office.

“The figures were verified by our field area coordinators,” the official said in a report.

Maslama Hassan, DSWD-12’s NHTS-PR field coordinator, said they are optimistic in meeting their target this month.

Aside from Region 12, she said they will also assess some 556,555 households in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

DSWD-12’s operational area presently covers the entire Soccsksargen and the provinces Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, including Marawi and Cotabato cities, in BARMM.

“Listahanan,” which is updated every four years, is an information management system that identifies “who and where the poor are” in the localities. It is used by DSWD, other national government agencies and social protection stakeholders as primary database of poor families nationwide. (PNA)