Kalahi program spends P300 M in first year

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said the Kapit-bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) program has so far used up P300 million of its P9-billion fund in its one year of operations.

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon "Dinky" Juliano-Soliman said most of the projects funded by the program involved enhancing accessibility to potable water and electricity and the putting up of day care and health centers.

With the P300-million projects, Soliman said 14,344 households now have access to potable water, while 2,526 families now benefit from the services of day care and health centers.

The KALAHI-CIDSS program is partially funded by a $100-million (roughly P5-billion) loan from the World Bank. The government has pledged a counterpart fund of P4 billion, bringing the program’s total funding to P9 billion.

Under the program, the DSWD, being the lead agency, will distribute some P3 million for three years to barangays of fifth- to sixth-class municipalities in the country’s 11 poorest provinces.

The program is touted to be a community empowerment project since it gives the community as a whole the power to decide which projects will be funded by the KALAHI-CIDSS.

For this, recipient barangays are expected to form councils which will decide what projects will be undertaken for their community’s benefit.

The 11 poorest provinces identified by the DSWD are Quezon, Zamboanga del Norte, Lanao del Norte, Davao del Norte, Sarangani, Agusan del Norte, Iloilo, Ifugao, Masbate, Siquijor and Eastern Samar. — Rainier Allan Ronda