Cagayan de Oro City – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is reiterating that the agency is keeping a clean database of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
Lawyer Araceli F. Solamillo, Regional Director of DSWD Northern Mindanao, said that measures and systems are continually enforced to maintain a clean list of beneficiaries.
Northern Mindanao has 277,510 beneficiaries listed under the regular Pantawid Pamilya, aside from the 18,901 grantees who are members of the different groups of Indigenous People under the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer.
Solamillo emphasized that only the rightful beneficiaries of the program are included in the database, adding that the Grievance Redress System (GRS) of the program is continually capturing and processing complaints related to the program.
Since the implementation of the program in 2010, GRS has delisted 2,438 beneficiaries due to inclusion errors; found out and delisted 13,210 because the household has no eligible children aged 0-18 years old; and delisted 717 grantees found to have regular income.
GRS also has cleaned its list from double entry or duplication, fraud, missing, waived, not registered, among others.
For her part, Kenneth Haze Sanchez, Regional Program Coordinator of Pantawid Pamilya in Northern Mindanao, explained that one way of keeping the database from leakage is through immediate filing of updates by encoding those updates in the system.
As of this year, Sanchez disclosed that GRS has received, processed, and resolved only minimal complaints of inclusion error which are coming from the grantees under Sets 6 and 7 or grantees included in the program for the last two years.
She also added that the Department conducts regular spot checks nationwide and consultations with different partner-agencies and organizations to help improve the implementation of the program.
Earlier, DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman has clarified reports citing a paper by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which stated “improvements are needed in the program’s targeting system to reduce an estimated leakage rate of 30%”.
ADB through its Philippines Country Director Richard Bolt, however, has already issued a clarification saying that the paper they published referred to studies from 2013 and 2011, which in turn used data from 2009.
“It is unfortunate that outdated data was used in media reports claiming that 19 billion pesos of program funds did not go to intended beneficiaries. That figure is based on a calculation drawn from outdated 2009 data—at a time when the budget for the program was much smaller—rather than the most recent 2014 budget. Initial targeting errors have been substantially reduced by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), with advice from ADB and other partners. It is important to note that these targeting errors did not lead to misappropriation or misuse of funds.
“Since 2010, ADB has worked closely with DSWD to ensure funding goes to intended beneficiaries. ADB technical assistance has supported DSWD in implementing measures—such as a grievance redress mechanism, extra training for staff, and spot checks in the field—to improve targeting models so they exclude non-eligible families.
“As part of ADB’s continuing efforts to improve the program’s effectiveness, a new round of poverty assessment processes is ongoing to update the status of beneficiary households and ensure funds are properly directed,” said Bolt in his statement which is also posted in ADB’s website www.adb.org.
Solamillo also enjoined the public to report, through the GRS, any complaint or questions about the Pantawid Pamilya. Messages can be sent through the text hotline 09189122813 or via electronic mail 4psreklamo@gmail.com or via Facebook: Tanggapan ng Reklamo.
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Written by Oliver Badel Inodeo, DSWD Northern Mindanao