To determine the poverty status of the Social Pension Program for indigent Senior Citizens and Modified Conditional Cash Transfer for Families in Need of Special Protection (MCCT-FNSP) beneficiaries/recipients who are not registered in the Listahanan database of poor households, the Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office 1 (DSWD FO1) conducts special validation in the whole region.
A total of 10,219 beneficiaries (Social Pension Program-9,582 and MCCT-FNSP-637) will undergo the special validation in 15 days through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) Project.
The said special validation will guarantee the resumption of the payment as monthly stipends to social pension beneficiaries. It will also lead to the inclusion of MCCT-FNSP beneficiary-families in the Listahanan database of poor households thus, advancing them to the regular Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
This will also intensify the credibility of the Listahanan as the prime source of potential beneficiaries of different social protection programs and services of the national and local governments.
Fifty seven (57) field support staff (10 Area Supervisors and 47 Enumerators) are now ready to be deployed in all the provinces of the region to visit and conduct the special validation after undergoing an intense four day-training, recently in held Pugo, La Union.
They were equipped with the right knowledge and skills in gathering the accurate, complete, and true data as being required by the Family Assessment Form (FAF), as the main assessment tool.
A field practice or mock household assessment was also held at Brgy. Cares for them to experience the actual gathering of information and proper administration of the FAF.
This special validation is a preparation also of the field staff for the upcoming NHTS-PR/Listahanan’s second round of household assessment this year.
During the training, the Assistant Regional Director for Operations and Deputy Project Manager Marlene Febes D. Peralta emphasized that the field support staff are considered to be the most powerful individuals in identifying and locating the poor, so they must be responsible enough in performing their job because they directly form part of formulating a trusted and credible information management system as basis in identifying potential beneficiaries of social protection programs and services.
Furthermore, Regional Director Marcelo Nicomedes J. Castillo also underscored that a laser sharp procedure should be vigorously employed in the data collection to ensure accuracy and completeness of information.
Social Pension Program allocates monthly stipend worth of P500.00 to all indigent senior citizens ages 77 and above to augment their daily needs and such as medicine and others, while MCCT-FNSP is a program designed to maximize the CCT program. (By: Jaesem Ryan A. Gaces, Administrative Assistant III, Listahanan/NHTS-PR).
