DSWD launches poverty reduction program

CEBU, Philippines - With his province recently removed from the 20 poorest provinces in the country, Bohol 2nd District Congressman Erico Aumentado hoped that they would also do well in the regional level.

His hope may be sooner granted as the Department of Social Welfare and Development yesterday launched the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction.

NHTS-PR is an information management system that “identifies who and where the poor are.”

“Under this program, we gather and analyze data, figures, facts, and symbols used to identify who are poor,” said Grace Subong, NHTS-PR Deputy Project Manager of DSWD-7.

At present, Subong said, there are already more than 6000 “poor people” identified in the region under NHTS-PR.

Congressmen, mayors, and other Local Government officials from the provinces of Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental and Siquijor were at the event yesterday held at the Crown Regency Hotel in Guadalupe, Cebu City.

They later signed the commitment to assist the DSWD in its poverty alleviation programs.

“We must work hand in hand to extricate our people from the bondage of poverty kay kung magmalampuson kita niini hayag ang kaugmaon sa atong nasud ug labaw sa tanan, hayag ang kaugmaon sa atong kaliwat ugma damlag,” Aumentado, the keynote speaker, said.

Subong said those who pass the NHTS-PR can avail of DSWD’s social protection programs such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, Kalahi-CIDSS, Self Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K), rice subsidy, and supplemental feeding, among others.

According to the DSWD, there are 781, 572 households in the region and 314, 654 or 40 percent is classified as poor.

Under the NHTS-PR, they will be identified as poor based on the family income and expenditure survey of the NSO.

Aumentado said Bohol, for a long time, belonged to the Club 20 or the top 20 poor provinces in the country, and at the same time the center of communist insurgency in Central and Eastern Visayas.

According to the National Statistics Office and the United Nations Development Program Human and Development index report, Bohol’s poverty incidence at that time was 53.8 percent.

“Taas-taas sad ang among kawad-on, maoy hinungdan sayon tintalon ang mga Bol-anon adtong panahona sa mga matam-is nga pasalig sa mga NPA, NDF, ug CCP,” he said.

By concentrating their programs on poverty reduction and addressing the poverty indicators such as health, education, and income, they were removed from the Club 20 and was declared insurgency-free in February 11 last year.

Undeniably, Aumentado said, there are still a lot of poor households in Central Visayas who needs the government’s assistance.

“The task before us is part of our big task of nation building. Ang atong gihimo karon maoy pagpakita na miumol ta ug taytayan sa atong nasud ug sa atong katawhan. Ug gibuligan sa Labawng Makagagahum, kita magmalampuson na ang Pilipinas mudyutay na ang kabus ug timawa na angay sa atong pagtagad,” he said. (FREEMAN)