Sarangani poorest families receive cash assistance

By BEVERLY C. PAOYON

ALABEL, Sarangani (January 13, 2012) - Sarangani released cash grants on Thursday (January 12) to augment the income of the poorest families in barangay Domolok thru the conditional cash transfer (CCT) project, a local initiative patterned after the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the national government.

4Ps is a poverty alleviation strategy which provides poor families cash assistance for the health and education needs of their children 0-14 years old.

A total of 268 families each received a P500 monthly assistance covering July, August, and September 2011. This first release entitled each beneficiary the sum of P1,500.

Governor Migs Dominguez urged beneficiaries to religiously submit to the conditions required of them like sending their children to pre-schools and for pregnant women to avail of the pre-natal services in barangay health centers.

Community affairs officer Rene Punzalan explained among the seven towns of Sarangani, only Alabel was not covered by the 4Ps program which prompted the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) to initiate local intervention using the Community-Based Management System (CBMS) as a tool to identify the poorest families.

CBMS is an organized process of data collection and processing at the local level and of integration of data in local planning, program implementation, and impact monitoring.

CBMS identified the barangays of Alegria, Domolok, Datal Anggas, and Paraiso with the most numbered constituents that fall below the poverty threshold.

A social welfare indicator revalidated the level of well-being of the 1,261 households of these barangays which revealed that 1,199 or 95 percent did not meet the minimum household income. In short, “these households could hardly eat three meals a day,” Punzalan said.

Punzalan, however, pointed out only the remaining five percent or 62 households that belong to the “subsistence” level have met the required daily meals, family bonding, and participated in the community development activities.

Punzalan said this initiative became a convergence task of PSWDO, Provincial Health Office, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office, and Provincial Agriculturist’s Office in responding to the basic needs in the communities.

Basic requirements like pre-school education and health services are among the conditions that have to be met under CCT.

Punzalan said beneficiaries would also be provided poverty reduction interventions such as family development sessions, organization of parent leaders, provision of livelihood trainings and assistance, provision of sanitary toilet, potable water supply, and enrolment to PhilHealth “to ensure that communities are resilient and capable” when they will be out of CCT’s list. For more news and updates, please visit the Province of Sarangani (Beverly C. Paoyon/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)