DSWD distributes an initial P13 Million in cash to beneficiaries of 4Ps in Southern Leyte

By BONG PEDALINO, PIA Maasin
January 27, 2011

MAASIN CITY  –  The Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO), along with DSWD-Region 8 and a ranking Land Bank Executive, distributed a total of P13 Million as partial implementation for the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program in Southern Leyte province.

Nelly Gomez, the Provincial Social Welfare Officer, told PIA by phone on Tuesday that the distribution was held in the town of Saint Bernard January 15, or a day after President Benigno Aquino III had visited the rain-ravaged municipality.

The sum of P9 million in cold cash was given to 778 family-beneficiaries for Saint Bernard alone, while another P4 million was given for Pintuyan town, the number of recipients of which was not yet determined as of press time, PSWDO Gomez said.

She added that a family with three children aged 0-14 received a lump sum of P15,000 for the entire year, and this should be closely monitored for compliance of pre-set conditions, like a regular visits to health centers and an 85% school attendance of children.

A team from the Commission on Audit (COA) will be involved in the monitoring, and the recipient heads of families were also warned that indulging in drinking sprees and card gambling are enough grounds for outright cancellation of being beneficiaries under the program.

She said some recipient households were among those who evacuated in designated evacuation centers at the height of the flooding spawned by non-stop rains, and those who pre-emptively moved to safe shelters for the risk of more flooding and landslides, but some of these families have since returned to their homes.

Assisting Gomez in the handling out of the cash assistance, officially called Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), were DSWD Regional Director Leticia Corillo and a top-level Executive of the Land Bank of the Philippines.

Two other municipalities in the province, Tomas Oppus and Bontoc, have been included in the expanded 4Ps program under President Aquino, and the cash distribution for these towns is expected to be held anytime this week, Gomez added.

Early last month, Edna Dator, a key staff at the provincial DSWD office, informed that some 2,199 families coming from the four mentioned towns stood as beneficiaries the moment the expanded 4Ps will be implemented starting this year.