The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is halfway through the assessment of 15,316,099 families for the updating of the poverty database otherwise known as the Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR).

Listahanan is an information management system that identifies who and where the poor are.

With the 2nd round of assessment for the Listahanan, DSWD expects to have an expanded and updated database on who and where the poor are by year-end. This will serve as basis for developing programs and services that are responsive to the needs of the poor. This will also serve as a tool in determining the potential beneficiaries of existing programs and services.

It may be recalled that in 2009, the DSWD conducted the first assessment which resulted to the identification of 5.2 million poor households out of the 10.9 million assessed.

These households have since become beneficiaries of government programs like the PhilHealth Indigent Program, and some 4.4 million households have also been enrolled in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

Presently, 10,189,457 households have been assessed through the 2nd round.

The DSWD, under the Aquino administration, enforces Executive Order No. 867 series of 2010 which extends the mandate of using Listahanan to all national government agencies. This is done through a proactive data sharing and through continuously advocating the implementation of targeted social protection programs and services for the identified poor households. ###