THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD 7) has served more than 240,000 households in its conditional cash transfer program this year.
More than P5 million has also been disbursed for the agency’s livelihood program.
DSWD 7l Director Mercedita Jabagat said the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps is the agency’s flagship program wherein poor families are given cash if they follow the conditions enumerated in the program such as pregnant women undergoing pre-natal care and parents attending development sessions.
Jabagat, in her State of the Region Address, said the program is considered an investment in human development, a way of keeping children in school and making sure they are healthy.
As of August this year, the agency has listed 240,310 household beneficiaries from 16 cities and 116 municipalities in Central Visayas.
The compliance rate for the conditions has reached 94.46 percent for pregnant women and children up to five years to have regular health visits and immunizations, 99.96 percent of children between six and 14 years old took deworming pills twice a year and 97.61 percent of parents attended Family Development Sessions regularly.
Jabagat also reported that there is an 88.28 percent compliance for pre-schoolers aged from 3 to 5 years and 95.84 percent of
children aged 6 to 14 attend school regularly.
With the compliance of some beneficiaries, there were also complaint and grievances reported and received through calls, text messages, e-mail, complaint forms filed, social networking, among others.
Out of 9,633 reported complaints, 97 percent or 9,362 were resolved while 222 were delisted from the program and 132 were deactivated pending verification of qualifications.
A modified conditional cash transfer was also introduced for families in need of special protection with 3,700 families registered in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu and more than 4,500 for extended age coverage project.
For the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), which is a community-based poverty alleviation program, there were 330 community sub-projects that were implemented amounting to P253.14 million and 306 of which were completed.
The Sustainable Livelihood Program, which is a multi-sectoral livelihood pogram that provides enterepreneurs and employment opportunities for the poor, there were 1,293 Pantawid-listed households served with a capital of P5,024,000 disbursed.
Jabagat said 736 Pantawid households were served through micro-finance institutions and 456 were given access to employment from January to September this year.
In 2012, 1,771 Pantawid households were served and P11,901,000 was disbursed as capital seed fund while 93 non-Pantawid households were served and P320,000 was disbursed using Priority Development and Assistance Program (PDAF).
There were 807 Pantawid households, who availed of funds from micro-fiannce institutiuons and 430 had access to employment.
More than 16,500 frail, sickly or oder persons with disability availed themselves of a social pension amounting to P92,562,000 last year.
For 2013, 16,769 senior citizens benefited from P52,783,000 funds from the program.