Cezario Joel Espejo, director of the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Region 12 (File photo courtesy of DSWD-12)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – More than 25,000 households from parts of Region 12 (Soccsksargen) have been delisted from the government’s conditional cash transfer program due to eligibility problems.
Cezario Joel Espejo, director of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 12, said Thursday the figure comprises the region’s beneficiaries who were purged from the program’s database in the past five years as a result of their stringent validation process.
The total number of delisted beneficiaries increased by 14,226 in just one year based on the 11,501 reported by the agency as of January 2020.
Espejo said the significant increase was the result of their expanded validation activities since last year that was conducted every two months.
“We (are) making sure that only the poorest of the poor and really deserving will remain in the program,” he said in a statement.
Espejo said the majority of those delisted failed to meet the conditions and comply with the requirements of the initiative, also known as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
A report released by DSWD-12 showed that a total of 14,267 households were removed as beneficiaries as they no longer have children aged 18 years and below who are eligible to receive the grants.
Some 6,230 beneficiaries could no longer be located by the validation team; 2,222 have moved out from their municipalities without giving notice to concerned village officials; 972 waived their inclusion; and 517 already have regular income.
It removed 1,031 others due to fraud, 396 due to duplicates or double entries, and two were confirmed as not poor.
Espejo said they are continually strengthening the implementation of the program’s guidelines, especially the validation process.
He said the removal of the ineligible beneficiaries would open the door for others who are qualified to benefit from it.
The number of 4Ps beneficiaries in the region has reached 244,427, with 1,857 added to the list last January.
The DSWD central office has allotted some PHP5.9 billion for the cash grants of the beneficiaries in the region for this year. (PNA)
