START FROM SCRATCH. Rodito Laurito df Barangay Mahogany, Butuan City rebuilds his life shattered by a fire that razed their belongings to the ground in January 2020. Determined to rise again for his family, he took advantage of the Department of Social Welfare and Development's Sustainable Livelihood Program to recover from the harrowing experience. (Photo courtesy of DSWD Caraga)
MANILA – For the last five years, the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD) social protection packages have continuously contributed to the efforts to alleviate poverty.
DSWD shared to reporters on Friday that more than 1.2 million household beneficiaries have ventured into income-generating opportunities and acquired work through the Sustainable Livelihood Program’s Microenterprise Development and Employment Facilitation.
More than 9.2 million households have also been deriving benefits from 31,052 community sub-projects of the Kapit-bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) nationwide.
Kalahi-CIDSS is a community-driven program that allows residents to actively participate, design and implement projects that will address the concerns of their communities.
From less than a million recipients of social pension in 2015, the DSWD likewise served more than 3.2 million this year through the expanded Social Pension program.
From the eligibility requirement of 75 years old and above in 2011 to 2014, and 65 years old and above in 2015, President Rodrigo Duterte amended the qualifications of the Program to cover indigent senior citizens who already reached 60 in the provision of the monthly PHP500 stipend.
As of the latest data, at least 9,205 centenarians have already received their PHP100,000-cash gift from the government since 2016 under the Centenarians Act.
Further, more than seven million individuals were provided with educational, transportation, and medical assistance through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation from 2016 to date.
The DSWD also reported during the recent Talk to the People aired Tuesday night that it held Supplementary Feeding Programs for children aged 2 to 5 in 1,429 local government units; operates 71 centers and residential care facilities, which are currently taking care of more than 80,000 children, women, elderly, and persons with disabilities; and distributes relief assistance to disaster-hit communities.
DSWD said it will sustain its accomplishments to "contribute to achieving the matatag, maginhawa, at panatag na buhay (stable, comfortable, and peaceful) life for Filipinos, as envisioned by President Duterte". (PNA)
