The DSWD regional launch of LISTAHANAN or “Talaan ng Pamilyang Nangangailangan” was well – attended by more than 200 partners, stakeholders like the local social welfare and development officers of various cities/municipalities/provinces, and media friends regionwide. It was held June 24, 2016 at the ARCIVU Hall, Palo, Leyte.

Says DSWD Undersecretary Florita Villar, “for years, prior to the implementation of the Listahanan, the national government struggled with having no unified, rigorous and objective basis for identifying beneficiaries of its social protection programs. Data was duplicated and there were varying targeting mechanisms among various government agencies, which resulted to inefficiency in the use of their limited resources.” 

Further, she stated that “no matter how well-meaning these programs were, resources would be wasted when their assistance do not reach those who need them the most.”

On the other hand, DSWD Regional Director Vincent Andrew Leyson of the National Capital Region admitted that LISTAHANAN 1 “failed in some aspects, but for the second round, tighter control mechanisms in data collection were implemented in year 2015.” He bared that for the 718, 492 households assessed regionwide, there were 330, 945 households assessed as poor.

On the national scale, the second round of assessment showed that of the 5.2 million households assessed in 2009, there are now 1.5 million families that have transitioned out of poverty. The data in year 2009, meaning in the first round of assessment, covered 10.9 million households nationwide, and to date, all 5.2 million poor households that were identified were enrolled in the Philhealth Indigent Program.Of this number of poor households, 4.2 million were also enrolled in the Pantawid Pamilya.

Meanwhile, DSWD Regional Director for Eastern Visayas, Restituto Macuto, bared that in 2015, “we again conducted another round of assessment which now covered 15 million households nationwide. “He added that “though the system that does not promise any social protection program, the Listahanan enables government organizations and agencies to accurately and objectively identify poor and vulnerable beneficiaries of their poverty reduction programs, to maximize efficiency and effectiveness of government resources.”#