Cagayan de Oro — Members of the Local Verification Committees (LVCs), composed of mayors, local social welfare and development officers, planning officers, and representatives from civil society groups in Northern Mindanao, are presently undergoing orientation in preparation for the validation of the initial list of poor households generated from DSWD’s second round household assessment conducted in the last two months.

Listahanan, previously known as the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), is a management system run by the DSWD that identifies who and where the poor are in the country. The data shall serve as the basis of identifying beneficiaries for social protection programs implemented by DSWD, national government agencies, local government units, civil society groups, and non-government organizations.

The validation phase is when initial lists of poor households based on the conducted assessment will be posted in strategic locations in the barangays for the people in the communities to provide feedback. It is also in this phase when families who were not yet visited by the enumerators will be given the chance to appeal, be assessed and lodge on their complaints and grievances to the Local Verification Committee (LVC).

The orientation is conducted simultaneously in the five provinces of the region.

Barangay Chairmen, who were also oriented on the process of the validation, pledged to help disseminate to their barangay constituents the conduct of the validation specifically of the date of posting of the initial list of poor households  in their barangays.

Mr. Philip Waye Mapala of the DSWD says that the orientation does not only serve the purpose of knowing the importance and process of validation, but also serves as a venue where issues and concerns relative to the conduct of the Second Round household assessments particularly their feedback and observations are also discussed and noted.

Barangay officials expressed their hope that with the conduct of the validation, the Listahanan data would prove to be correct, viable, and accurate basis in identifying potential beneficiaries of social protection programs and services of the Department of Social Welfare and Development  and  its partner agencies and stakeholders.

Both LVC members and the Barangay Chairmen shared their high regard to the recently  conducted household assessments as they also look forward that exclusion and inclusion errors will be minimized as compared to the First Round Assessment in 2009.

Written by Mitzie S. Santiago, DSWD