GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- At least 397 more beneficiaries of the government's flagship Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program in Region 12 (Soccsksargen) have "graduated" this year from poverty status.
Kristin de Pedro, project development officer for CCT of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 12, said Wednesday they have removed the concerned households from the program's list of beneficiaries due to their improved socio-economic standing.
De Pedro said the move was the result of the recertification process earlier undertaken by all beneficiaries of the CCT, which is also known as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
It involves the assessment by social workers of the actual economic status of the beneficiaries to determine if they still need to receive financial assistance from the government, she said.
However, de Pedro clarified that the removal from the list does not mean the immediate termination of the concerned beneficiaries from the program.
As part of the process, she said the 397 families were given by their central office at least six months to lodge appeals after receiving their notices.
“If they are terminated, it means they are already above the poverty line,” she said.
As of 2017, DSWD-12 reported that a total of 32,637 households had been assessed as capable of "standing on their own" without government assistance through the CCT.
Based on the program’s Social Welfare and Development Indicator (SWDI), the said households have already improved to the self-sufficient category.
SWDI is a tool that determines the level of well-being of CCT beneficiaries to ensure appropriate interventions for them.
“It shows that these households already have the means to support and sustain the needs of their members through stable sources of income,” said DSWD-12 Director Bai Zorahayda Taha.
Taha said the number of CCT beneficiaries served by DSWD-12 currently stands at 233,288 households.
The program is being implemented by the agency in 1,287 barangays in Region 12’s four provinces and five cities, and in Marawi City in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
CCT is a poverty reduction and social development strategy of the national government that provides conditional cash grants to the “poorest of the poor” households to improve their health, nutrition, and education.
It provides beneficiaries cash grants of PHP500 a month for health and nutrition expenses and PHP300 a month per child for educational expenses, as well as PHP600 in monthly rice subsidy. (PNA)
