DSWD, Metrobank to give bags of blessing to 10,000 families
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will help the Metrobank Foundation give away “bags of blessings” to the country’s 10,000 poorest families who are not beneficiaries of its flagship poverty alleviation program, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
Social Welfare Secretary Judy Tagui- walo signed last Tuesday a memorandum of agreement with executive director Aniceto Sobrepena and Nicanor Torres Jr., Metrobank Foundation executive director and GTFI deputy execuitve director, for the Bags of Blessing project.
The Bags of Blessing Project is a nationwide gift-giving project of Metrobank wherein 10,000 bags filled with grocery items and snack food for children worth P1,000 will be distributed to 10,000 poorest families listed in the DSWD’s National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) database but are not beneficiaries of the 4Ps.
The DSWD said that the project’s distribution sites cover Metro Manila and various provinces in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
The distribution of the bags in Metro Manila will be in the cities of Taguig, Makati, Manila, Pasay, Marikina, Quezon, Navotas and Caloocan City
Provincial distribution sites are in Imus, Cavite; Balanga, Bataan; Sta. Rosa, Laguna and Baguio City in Luzon; Iloilo City; Cebu City and Palo, Leyte in Visayas; and Davao City; Zamboanga City; and Cotabato City in Mindanao.
There will be 1,000 beneficiaries from the City of Manila and another 1,000 from Davao City, while for the rest of the sites, there will be 500 beneficiaries.
The distribution schedule is from Jan. 28 to Feb. 2, 2017.
The validation of the list of poor but non-4Ps beneficiaries provided by NHTS, or the Listahanan database with DSWD field offices; staff and barangay officers are currently ongoing.
Social workers from the concerned barangays provided augmentation support to DSWD field offices staff to fast track the evaluation.
Taguiwalo will lead the actual launch of the BOB project at the start of the Chinese New Year today at Taguig Lakeshore Hall along C6 Road, 393 C-6 Lower Bicutan, Taguig City.
“We are glad for this partnership with Metrobank Foundation. The Bags of Blessing Project is a very worthy activity which will benefit many impoverished Filipino families. We hope that other institutions will consider implementing similar campaigns and projects to reach out to the less fortunate and to share with them what we can,” Taguiwalo said.
The welfare chief expressed hope that DSWD’s partnership with Metrobank Foundation and the GTFI will not end with the Bags of Blessing Project but will continue and lead to similar projects.
“There are many important and pressing issues and concerns that affect the Filipino people. The Bags of Blessing Project is one way to reach out to many more Filipinos who are not covered by Pantawid Pamilya whom we also want to assist and provide for. We are most grateful for the help of Metrobank Foundation, and we look forward to more partnerships,” she said.