Davao City -The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) clarifies that the Listahanan Survey is not a program but a nationwide assessment to come up with a data management system of poor households, targeting their name and location.

“We would like to make clear that the Listahanan assessment conducted in the different households all over the country is not a guarantee that a family will automatically be a recipient of any program of DSWD,” Regional Director Priscilla N. Razon emphasized.

“All collected information from the households will be encoded to a web application and subjected to a Proxy Means Test or PMT,” she said.

PMT is a statistical model that estimates the family income based on the variables indicated in the family assessment forms which were administered during the recent Listahanan survey.

Households with estimated income that is equal to and above the latest provincial poverty thresholds will be considered non-poor and those with estimated income falling below the provincial poverty thresholds will be considered poor.

“Once a household is identified as poor then it becomes a potential beneficiary of our social protection programs like the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and Social Pension Program,” Director Razon explained.

According to Listahanan focal and Policy and Plans chief Estrella D. Brigole, as soon as the Listahanan database is final, it will be made available to other national government agencies, local government units and other stakeholders as reference in identifying potential beneficiaries of their respective social protection program and services.

Currently, nationwide validation and finalization of the list of poor households is being implemented, Brigoli said.

This critical activity shall assess and conduct a more thorough authentication of the preliminary list of poor and non-poor households at the barangay level through posting of initial survey results for everyone to see and validate the information, she added.

The DSWD with the participation of the local government units formed a Local Verification Committee at the municipal level for the resolution of all complaints and/or appeals brought by individuals and/or groups during the validation phase.

To date, DSWD Davao Region has a total of 282,980 poor households identified based on the initial survey results but is subject to change following the validation phase.

DSWD encourages the public to participate and file complaints/appeals so that deserving families would really benefit. (DSWD)