The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is set to register around 21,000 poor households in the CALABARZON Region as new beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program by the end of the year.

To date, the Department is conducting validation of potential beneficiaries across the region. These potential beneficiaries are those included in the list of poor households in the region based on the 2015 house-to-house assessment under the DSWD’s Listahanan targeting system.

The Listahanan targeting system is an information management system that is managed by the DSWD to determine who and where the poor are. The agency maintains a database of poor households, which is updated every four years, to properly target beneficiaries of programs and services for the poor.

Other than being included in the list of poor households, the potential beneficiaries were screened based on their eligibility to the program. This includes having children age zero to 18 or a pregnant member during the time of assessment.

Validation of potential beneficiaries

In the ongoing validation, the list of potential beneficiaries is posted in every barangay to inform them of their selection as potential beneficiaries.

The public may also check with the city and municipal offices of the Pantawid Pamilya whether or not they are included in the list.

Since the list of poor households under the Listahanan was generated in 2015, the validation of potential beneficiaries for the Pantawid Pamilya program aims to assess the current economic status of the household to check whether or not they still need assistance from the government. The validation will also ensure that there are zero to 18 years old children or a pregnant member in the household.

Also, the DSWD secures the household’s willingness to comply with the conditions set by the program. These conditions include 85 percent monthly attendance of children to school, monthly preventive health checkups of zero to five years old children, twice a year deworming of school-aged children, monthly pre and post natal care of pregnant members and monthly attendance of parent-grantees in Family Development Sessions.

The validation has started in September and is expected to be completed until December this year. Those who have been validated to be eligible as beneficiaries of the program will be registered in the program in January 2020.#