The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is upbeat about completing the validation of the list of over 280,000 conditional cash transfer beneficiaries in Eastern Visayas by end of July.
DSWD Eastern Visayas Regional Director Grace Subong said several personnel have been mobilized to step up the ongoing validation process in compliance to the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and Secretary Erwin Tulfo.
“We are reviewing the list and check the level of well-being of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries. If they are not poor based on the indicators, they should not be included in the program,” Subong told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in a phone interview Wednesday.
The official said they started narrowing down the list of legitimate and qualified 4Ps beneficiaries since 2019 through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) in partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
The pandemic movement restrictions disrupted the activity.
The NHTS-PR is an information management system that identifies “who and where the poor are”, making available a database of poor families as a reference in identifying potential beneficiaries of social protection programs such as the 4Ps.
The system, according to Subong, is a viable tool to ensure equitable distribution of resources and services to deserving poor Filipino families.
The validation will check if families can afford to buy home appliances and if they have children who finished schooling but continue receiving cash grants.
“We are doing the cross-matching of data in terms of objective of the program using the social welfare tool,” Subong added.
The 4Ps is the national poverty reduction strategy of the government as stated under the Republic Act No. 11310 or “An Act institutionalizing Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program” which was signed on April 17, 2019.
Patterned after the conditional cash transfer scheme implemented in other developing countries, 4Ps provides cash grants to beneficiaries if they comply with the set of conditions required by the program. (PNA)
