DSWD finishes validation of poor beneficiaries
THE DEPARTMENT of Social Welfare and Development in the Cordillera has already completed the validation of the 31,392 Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) Program potential beneficiaries as of July 10.
This is after a thorough reassessment of poor households identified in the 2015 Listahanan assessment.
“The first assessment was done in 2009, followed by another in 2015. This 2018, we conducted a validation due to the implementation of the UCT as mandated by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or TRAIN LAW,” DSWDCAR OIC regional director Janet Armas said.
Validation of Listahanan- identified poor households in the region started on April 11. Validators conducted house-to-house assessment of the poor households identified in the 2015 assessment.
Out of the 31,392 households, 26,218 households are validated and are identified as potential target beneficiaries of the UCT.
“Though we have already have this number, this still need to undergo our Proxy Means Test (PMT). After running the PMT, we are expect- ing to have the final list of our UCT beneficiaries,” Armas added.
PMT is a statistical model that generates a score for the households based on household characteristics. A household’s score is then compared against a predetermined provincial poverty threshold to determine whether it is to be identified as poor or non-poor.
Meanwhile, as a re-
sult of the validation, the Listahanan has identified 188 duplicated households.
“The field office through Listahanan did its best to validate the poor households to ensure that our list will be free from errors such as inclusion of non-poor and non-eligibile and duplicity of entries. Expect that there will be beneficiaries that will be delisted from our programs such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and Social Pension Program,” Armas shared.
As of June 30, there are 1,555 households that have been delisted from the Pantawid Program due to fraud, duplicity and non-eligibility. Meanwhile, Social Pension Program beneficiaries will be cross-matched to the pensioners of the Social Security System, Government Services Insurance System and Philippine Veterans Affairs Office to ensure that the Social Pensioners are not receiving additional pension from these institutions.
“We would like to reiterate that only DSWD can delist beneficiaries from its programs and services and delisting is only possible if there are grounds for it such as non-compliance to criteria or guidelines. We have a grievance machinery system and delisting beneficiaries shall undergo our process,” Armas added.
“If anyone observes any irregularity in our programs and services, you can report to our office so we can provide appropriate action or intervention. Provide the needed information such as their names and address so we can do the neces- sary investigation. The DSWD is open to comments and observations so we can improve our program and service delivery”, Armas emphasized.
Reports, queries and grievances may be directed to the DSWD-CAR at # 40 North Drive, Baguio City or through (074) 446-59-61 or 44232- 62 or www.facebook.com/dswdfocar or focar@dswd.gov.ph.