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DSWD suspends cash grant release to 500 Antique IP beneficiaries

By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay

March 24, 2022, 6:58 pm

<p><strong>CASH GRANT</strong>. Antique provincial <em>Pantawid</em> link Jeffrey Gabucay orients <em>Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program</em> (4Ps) beneficiaries of San Jose de Buenavista early this year. Gabucay ,in an interview Thursday (March 24, 2022), said the DSWD Central Office will temporarily withhold the payout to some 500 beneficiaries of the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer (MCCT) until such time they could be included in the <em>Listahanan</em>. <em> (Photo courtesy of Pantawid Antique) </em></p>

CASH GRANT. Antique provincial Pantawid link Jeffrey Gabucay orients Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries of San Jose de Buenavista early this year. Gabucay ,in an interview Thursday (March 24, 2022), said the DSWD Central Office will temporarily withhold the payout to some 500 beneficiaries of the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer (MCCT) until such time they could be included in the Listahanan (Photo courtesy of Pantawid Antique) 

SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has temporarily withheld the payment of cash grants to some 500 Indigenous Peoples (IPs) who are beneficiaries of the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer (MCCT) in the province of Antique.

Antique provincial Pantawid link Jeffrey Gabucay, in an interview on Thursday, said they were advised by their central office to suspend the release until an enumeration is conducted and they will be included in the National Household Targeting System (NHTS) or the "Listahanan" containing the list of poor families.

“The Commission on Audit (COA) has sent an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) to the DSWD central office inquiring why there are MCCT beneficiaries who are not in the Listahanan and urged our agency (DSWD) to ensure that all beneficiaries are in the Listahanan,” he said.

The DSWD central office was constrained from releasing payments to the target beneficiaries for December 2021 to January 2022 period that was supposedly for release before the end of this month or April, Gabucay added.

The temporary withholding of the cash grants is also in accordance with Republic Act 11310 or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Act which states that the DSWD shall select qualified household beneficiaries on the 4Ps from the Listahanan.

Gabucay said the MCCT beneficiaries, who are IPs, were not included in the Listahanan because of their mobility.

“The IPs have no permanent dwellings that’s why they were not validated during the Listahanan,” he said.

He said the latest Listahanan was conducted yet in 2019.

Despite of the temporarily withholding of the payment, beneficiaries are still advised to comply with the conditionalities of the program to include sending to school their children 18 years old and below, health and attendance on Family Development Sessions (FDS) so that they could still receive their grant after they will be included in the Listahanan.

The MCCT beneficiaries prior to the temporary withholding of their cash grant received PHP750 a month for their health needs.

The monthly educational grant for a maximum of three children per household is composed of PHP700 for senior high school, PHP500 for junior high school, and PHP300 elementary.

“We are hopeful that before the end of 2022 the MCCT beneficiaries could already receive their grant,” Gabucay said. (PNA) 

 

 

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