DSWD Family Access Card beneficiaries to be screened

In order to determine the rightful beneficiaries of the “Family Access Cards”, the Department of Social Welfare and Development will make use of the General Intake Sheets to gather essential data of the proposed recipients.

DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral said the local social welfare offices, in coordination with the barangay councils, will identify the recipients of the family access cards based on the monthly income of their residents which should be less than P5,000 monthly for a family of five members, the food threshold income based on the latest assessment of the National Statistical Coordination Board.

Cabral said this is in compliance with President Gloria Arroyo’s directive to DSWD “to identify the poorest families in the country and make them priority recipients of rice subsidy.”

In the distribution Scheme of Family Access Cards for purchase of NFA rice at P18.25 per kilo, the concerned barangay officials were enjoined to conduct community assemblies to explain the prioritization process in the identification of families.

On the other hand, while a number of LGUs had reproduced their own Family Access Card in different colors, and in some instances have done their own serial numbering, the National DSWD will issue the final master numbers for each identified household issued FACs, in coordination with LGUs.

This is to ensure that leakage is minimized if not totally eliminated.  —Ferliza C. Contratista/BRP