Cagayan de Oro — To ensure transparency and to correct errors in the list of poor households it generated, the Department of Social Welfare and Development continues to accommodate error issues filed by families and communities regarding the initial list of poor households posted in their barangays as part of the Department’s validation phase.

The list of poor households is generated through the DSWD’s “Listahanan” or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction, which shall be the basis in identifying qualified beneficiaries for social protection programs and social services in the country. The list can be used by other national government agencies, and providers of social protection programs and services.

Earlier this month, the DSWD posted the initial lists of poor households in strategic areas in the barangays to give an opportunity for the communities to give feedback on possible errors such as  inclusion, exclusion, correction of entries, misspelled names

Mr. Philip Waye Mappala of the DSWD also says the validation phase also enables families who were not visited by the DSWD enumerators to appeal and be assessed. “This is also the time when they can lodge their complaints and grievances to the Local Verification Committees,” Mappala says.

The members of the Local Verification Committees include the municipal or city mayor, the local government unit’s planning officer, social welfare and development officer, and members from the civil society organizations. The DSWD shall serve as the secretariat of the committees.

Mappala says that the complaints filed shall be elevated to the Local Verification Committees and shall be resolved within five days from filing. The DSWD, through its area supervisors, shall also update those concerned regarding the status of their issues.

The Listahanan validation phase is targeted to run within the month of November 2015 before the finalization of data of poor households nationwide.

The DSWD encourages the public to  participate during the validation process  to ensure  that  the list of poor households in the region will be accurate, correct, and viable.

 

Written by Mitzie S. Santiago, DSWD