DSWD Region Eight Director Leticia Corillo has emphasized in her recent speeches during the regionwide conduct of PHILHEALTH SABADO DAY PART II that “the DSWD’s National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction or NHTS-PR is an assurance that the very poor will be able to enjoy the benefits and privileges of social protection programs, and that poverty-reduction programs will be maximized for them to gradually rise above poverty.”

“The beneficiaries of this PHILHEALTH –led program are taken from the NHTS-PR central computer socio-economic database of poor households, and this targeting system is neither nameless nor faceless. The program, which has started to be implemented on a nationwide scale, sets a unified criteria in selecting the poorest population. It is commendable that the PHILHEALTH is one of the first agencies who made use of these reliable data,” she furthermore stated.

Corillo has issued these statements, even as she sent representatives to the said event which involves awarding of PHILHEALTH cards to other indigent families of public elementary pupils who are not beneficiaries of the PANTAWID PAMILYANG PILIPINO PROGRAM. The Regional Director was, however, present during the regional launching yesterday, June 22, at the Pawing Elementary School at Pawing in Palo, Leyte.

Furthermore, it said in her report – “I call on the parents to make use of the health cards – what government has invested on you, give it back a hundredfold. The health/nutrition of children, specially, is very vital to break the inter–generational cycle of poverty. Health is wealth! With a healthy body comes a healthy mind – children will do good in school and will look forward to learning a lot more. Thereon, we will be able to build a breed of new leaders, and we will be able to put an end to a life of dependency, and move on and on to greater prosperity. This is the essence of the PANTAWID PAMILYANG PILIPINO PROGRAM! The program sets conditions for cash – with beneficiaries giving the bigger share of the responsibilities by putting in more for their own good.”

Lastly, “the PANTAWID PAMILYA is a conditional cash transfer scheme that puts emphasis on the commitments of pregnant mothers and zero to 14 – year old children to regular immunizations and check-ups, as well as regular attendance of said children to day care centers and schools. I understand the luckier ones are those who were not chosen for the program, knowing that they are more in a better state. Now, you are lucky to be enrolled with the PHILHEALTH because this is one great opportunity and a guarantee that your entire life is protected . . . at no cost!