Cotabato City–The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through the National Household Targeting Unit (NHTU) for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is set to conduct a special validation in the region soon.
This and a few more updates were presented during its Local Government Unit orientation. Aminah Macodi, the new Project Development Officer IV for Lanao and Maguindanao clusters was formally introduced to the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officers of ARMM.
Moreover, the new brand name for the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) was also successfully launched. Along with its new tag line “talaan ng pamilyang nangangailangan” and new logo, Listahanan was formally unveiled by NHTU head Jackiya A. Lao together with DSWD 12 Assistant Regional Director Monera H. Lidasan and TISP Focal – DSWD ARMM Nomaire Madid.
Meanwhile the orientation mainly focused on the special validation of beneficiaries of Social Pension (SOCPEN) and Modified Conditional Cash Transfer Program for Families in Need of Special Protection (MCCT-FNSP) held on May 12, 2014 at Estosan Hotel, Cotabato City.
For SOCPEN, non-Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) identified poor senior citizens who have been receiving SOCPEN benefits in previous year will be the subject of the special validation.
Meanwhile, for MCCT-FNSP, the inclusion of MCCT-FNSP beneficiary-families in the Listahanan Database as a result of the special validation will guarantee their advancement to the regular Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
According to Macodi the special validation will uphold Listahanan’s objective of ensuring that all potentially poor households are assessed and included in the database which serves as the basis for selecting recipients of the social protection programs of the national government.
DSWD will utilize the Family Assessment Form (FAF) to assess the socio-economic status of the beneficiaries and make sure that only the qualified poor will continue receiving benefits. The data gathered from the validation will be subject to Proxy Means Test (PMT) to determine whether the assessed families and senior citizens are poor or non-poor.
Participants of the LGU orientation included Maguindanao Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officers, Local Officials and National Government Agency representatives.
Jackiya Lao closed the activity by summoning the cooperation of LGU during the conduct of the validation. Lao specifically asked for the general public’s involvement during the validation by being vigilant in spotting dishonest NHTU field staffs.
“Hindi namin nakikita ang bawat empliyado sa field kaya hinihingi namin ang kooperasyon ninyo. Kung may mahuli kayong hindi nagtatrabaho na field workers (special validation field staff) ng DSWD, ay paki-identify lamang para magawa agad namin ang kaukulang hakbang”, Lao said.
Meanwhile, NHTU 12 is just waiting for the DSWD central office to send the final list of families and senior citizens to be validated. It will conduct the special validation for SOCPEN and MCCT-FNSP in Lanao and Maguindanao this semester. ###