DAVAO City -The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will hold the Awarding of Winners for the Regional Search for Exemplary Children of Pantawid Pamilya on November 8, 2013, Friday at the Apo View Hotel, Davao City.

Five exemplary children and named Provincial Winners from Davao City and all four provinces in Davao Region will attend the awarding ceremony. Provincial winners are Caroline Indangan of Paquibato, Davao City; Quennie Pearl Dumasig of Kiblawan, Davao del Sur; Artero Escropolo of Montevista, Compostela Valley; Florife Malacas of Tagum City, Davao del Norte; and Kenneth Bonalos of Banaybanay, Davao Oriental.

“This is the second year that the department held the said search. The Search for Exemplary Children of Pantawid Pamilya aims to recognize children who have shown excellence in academic and non-academic activities,” said DSWD XI Regional Director Priscilla N. Razon.

The search is open to all children beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya who are between 10 – 14 years old, preferably recommended by community leaders, a teacher or even by parent groups or by church groups. The child must be: (1) enrolled in school; (2) has never dropped out/skipped a school year; (3) compliant to the school attendance requirement of the program – must have at least 85% school attendance; (4) with good scholastic standing and no grades below the passing mark and is a non-repeater; (5) fully immunized and dewormed twice this year.

Further, the children must possess the following qualities/characteristics: active in extra-curricular activities (to be certified by teachers/advisers); active in community activities (e.g. participates in community affairs, church activities – to be certified by community leaders); talented (e.g. won awards/recognition in competitions in singing, dancing, sports, essay-writing, poster-making, arts, etc.) and with a good moral character

Each LGU is only allowed to nominate one (1) child who will serve as its official nominee.

Properly packaged documentations/evidences for screening and validation are then submitted at the regional level. Relatives of employees of the DSWD and members of the selection committee up to the third degree of consanguinity and affinity are not allowed to join the search.

Pantawid Pamilya is a poverty-alleviation strategy of the national government that provides conditional cash assistance to identified poor households in the country. The program disburses a monthly cash grant of P 1,400.00 to family beneficiaries who are compliant to program conditions on health and education. At present, the program has 192,881 households covered in 6 cities and 43 municipalities in Region XI. DSWD