Davao City – A total of 1.5 million out of the 4.4 million beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program nationwide have been rescued out of poverty according to a top official of the Department of Social Welfare and Development 11.
Mercedita P. Jabagat, newly-installed regional director of DSWD 11 said that despite this development, this number of beneficiaries remains vulnerable to disasters.
“They can still be reclassified as very poor once a calamity strikes or when the head of the family is gone.
They can easily lose their lives and property in case a strong typhoon hits their locality,” she said.
She recalled that Pantawid Pamilya started to assist the first batch of beneficiaries in the region since 2008, particularly the set one area which includes the beneficiaries from Davao City.
Jabagat said the DSWD national office is still determining the respective share of every region in the country on the 1.5 million Pantawid beneficiaries reported to have relieved their lives out of poverty.
She said every beneficiary was evaluated every six months, since 2009 by looking closely on the description of dwelling and its content, and level of well-being, ranging from survival, subsistence to self-sufficiency.
“Once a beneficiary reaches self-sufficiency, that would mean he is rescued from poverty,” Jabagat said.
She also underscored that only the DSWD and its beneficiary can stop the Pantawid Pamilya.
“Politicians cannot lay claim on either the termination or continuity of the Pantawid,” Jabagat said.
She said a total of 234,213 families in region have been enrolled in Pantawid Pamilya as of January 27, 2016.
She said that the region also has its share of the modified cash transfer prioritizing the indigenous peoples, covering 39, 966 households.
Jabagat said a total of 13,187 families from the 234,213 families have been taken out of the list in the Pantawid in Davao Region due to fraud, transfer of residence, acquisition of regular income and absence of dependent aging 18 years old and below. (PIA 11)