Eight Local Government Units (LGU) of the Region inked a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program last January 11, 2013 at the San Juanico Golf and Country Club in Tacloban City. This was graced and witnessed by the DSWD Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Juliano-Soliman herself, other stakeholders, including media.

In her message, Secretary Soliman commenced by telling how the Department is assessing family beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilya on their level of existence. She said that the DSWD is presently working to assess families whether they belong still to the survival stage, or have elevated to the, subsistence or self-sufficient levels. The top officials also mentioned that the first set of beneficiaries which were identified in year 2008, will be transitioning into self-sufficiency by the end of this year.

She emphasized the goal of partnership with the LGU as to the implementation of the program, that indeed it is to help the Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries reach the self-sufficiency level.

“In the Memorandum of Agreement, atin pong sinasabi sa ating mga ka-partner na- mayors and governors na atin pong pagtulungan na ang mga batang ito na magkaroon ng mas mabuting buhay, mas maayos na kinabukasan sa kanilang mga magulang. Sapagkat malamang na ang tatay at nanay nila at lolo’t lola nila ay hindi nakatapos ng elementarya. Ang layunin natin, makatapos sila ng elementarya at sana’y, sa tulong nating lahat- ang lokal na pamahalaan, at ang Pambansa na Pamahalaan na magawa natin. Na pagkatapos ng limang taon tuloy-tuloy ang pag-aaral nila. Sapagkat meron naman tayong iba pang mga program na tumutulong para siguraduhing mapanatili nila sa eskwelahan ang mga bata, at mapanatiling malusog. At pangunahin po doon ay ang Sustainable Livelihood na atin ng ipinapasok noon pang dalawang taong nakaraa, lalong lalo na sa ating mga kasama na magtatapos na at pupunta na sa Self-Sufficiency. So amin hong inaasahan na ang mahigpit na ugnayan natin lalo na sa pag sisigurado na ang kailangan ng mga bata na eskwelahan at kailangan ng mga nanay at sanggol sa mga rural health unit ay inyo pong maisasagawa at maibibiga, sa tulong na rin ng national agencies. Iyan po ang partnership natin,” Soliman said. (In the Memorandum of Agreement, we simply tell our partners to help us make children have a better life, and brighter future with their parents. Because their parents and grandparents may not have been able to finish primary school. Our goal is to make them finish elementary school, and hoping that with all our help from the local and national government, we will be able to do so. That after five years they will continue be in school. Because we also have other programs that help ensure them to be in school and be healthy, one of which is the Sustainable Livelihood program which was implemented two years ago, to ensure them that they will be in self-sufficiency level. So, we are looking forward for a tight partnership specifically in providing for the children’s needs in school, and for the mothers’ and babies at the rural   health units with the help, too, of other national agencies.)

In conclusion, Soliman stressed that the program’s focus is simply to ensure and let the children be in school and make them healthy.

The eight remaining towns that were newly included in the program were: Tunga and Isabel of Leyte province; Anahawan and Padre Burgos of Southern Leyte province; and Guiuan, Mercedes, Lawaan and Sulat of the Eastern Samar province.

A total of 6,523 identified potential beneficiaries from the said towns will become recipients of the conditional cash grants of Pantwid Pamilya for this year, categorized as the Set 6 beneficiaries. The number will add up to the the 21,536 household beneficiaries from the old municipalities from the provinces Northern Samar, Western Samar, Leyte and Biliran, making a total of 28,165 beneficiaries of the Set 6 Areas.

The DSWD Regional Field Office VIII now covers 100% of the 136 cities/ municipalities of the six provinces of the region and 95.53% at the barangay level.