CEBU, Philippines - Cebu has the most number of unemployed individuals in Central Visayas according to the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) household assessment of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region VII.
DSWD's household assessment revealed that there are 441,291 out of the 1,027,183 individuals aged 15 years old and above and categorized as poor individuals in the region, who are unemployed.
DSWD-7 information officer Kerwin Macopia said most of these poor individuals with no occupation are found in Cebu with 234,483, followed by Bohol with 111,426, Negros Oriental with 88,024 and Siquijor with 7,358.
According to Macopia, their data showed that poverty due to unemployment is still one of the major problems in the country despite its recent economic growth.
DSWD's way of addressing these concerns and issues, according to Macopia, is through its core social protection programs including the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan - Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) and the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).
DSWD's SLP, a community-based program is introduced as one of the capacity building strategies to improve the poor and the disadvantaged individual's socio economic status, he said.
SLP beneficiaries were chosen based on the list by NHTS-PR, an information and management system that identifies who and where the poor individuals are in the country, Macopia said.
DSWD-7 urged the newly-elected legislators and local chief executives to use the available data to formulate appropriate social protection programs and services specifically to address the unemployment problem in their respective localities.
There are currently 127 towns and cities in the region, according to Macopia, which already entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the DSWD-7 for data sharing and utilization.
Non-government organizations like the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI), Outreach Program on Trainings, Integral Organizing and Networking for Solidarity Inc. (OPTIONS) and Alay Lakad Foundation have also signed a pact with DSWD for its use. (FREEMAN)