Last Saturday, August 18, 2012, saw the launching of a radio debate in RADYO DIWA Station, in Tacloban City, in its special edition of “KAYO ANG BOSS KO”, with councilor Edward Sanagan of Jaro, Leyte, as anchorperson.

The one-hour radio program had its initial guests- La Paz Municipal Mayor, Leyte Center Family Development Organization (LEFADO), Betty Garrido, and DSWD Field Office Eight Regional Director Leticia Diokno. Mayor Lumen and Garrido spoke for themselves the developments that are really taking place in their communities, while Director Diokno gave further explaining of the agency’s anti-poverty reduction programs and its updates.

Said Director Diokno, “the bottomline of this program is to challenge everyone to speak out, either to be clarified on the issues revolving on the implementation of our three core social protection programs, especially, or to advocate the effectiveness of the Convergence Strategy Program.

The Convergence Strategy Program or “Tatsulo,” meaning “tatlong sulo sa pagpuksa sa kahirapan,” is a way of increasing the combined impact to reduce poverty beyond what each of the three projects can accomplish on its own. These programs are the PANTAWID PAMILYANG PILIPINO PROGRAM or PANTAWID PAMILYA, KAPIT-BISIG LABAN SA KAHIRPAN: COMPREHENSIVE AND INTEGRATED DELIVERY OF SOCIAL SERVICES: KAPANGYARIHAN AT KAUNLARAN SA BARANGAY or KALAHI-CIDSS, and the SELF-EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE – KAUNLARAN or SEA-K.

Mayor Lumen revealed that the KALAHI-CIDSS has empowered 30 of the 35 barangays of his town, which benefited the said project and led to the concreting of roads, drainage canals, pathways, water systems, and improvement of schools, among others. These sub-projects were among those identified as priority needs by the folks themselves, with funding support by the Millennium Challenge Corporation, one of the funding agencies of the KALAHI-CIDSS.