DSWD cash grants now cover all 32 LGUs of Negros Occidental

By Easter Anne D. Doza

Friday 31st of August 2012

TALISAY CITY, Negros Occidental, Aug 31 (PIA) -- The cash grant of the Department of Social Welfare and Development will now cover all 32 local government units (LGUs) of the province this year.

To date, 29 towns and cities in the province are already covered by the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program while the towns of Pontevedra, San Enrique, Valladolid and Pulupandan will receive the conditional cash grants next month.

A total of 29,084 beneficiaries (subject to validation) will be added to the 86,702 registered clean and active grantees in the province.

Bacolod City has the highest addition of beneficiaries among the LGUs with 8,505 beneficiaries, however, only Barangay 37 in Bacolod City from all the barangays in the province is not covered by the program since it is a business district or a commercial area.

In Negros Occidental, 2,000 beneficiaries were already delisted from the roster for giving false information during the National Housing Targeting System for Poverty Reduction, fraud while some already graduated from poverty level and are no longer qualified in the program.

Provincial Grievance Officer Dionela Madrona denied reports that politicians can delist names of their constituent-beneficiaries from the program.

“No politician can delist names from DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilya program. It is just that some of our parent leaders in the community are also mobilized leaders by politicians but political parties or affiliations have no bearing in the program,” Madrona explained.

Madrona also said their office is receiving about 3,800 grievances in a month with mostly exclusion and inclusion error or lower entitlement of cash grants.

For those beneficiaries who have grievances and questions, they are encouraged to text the Grievance Hotline by texting: 4ps(space)pangalan(slash)lugar(slash)reklamo/grievance/question (Example: 4ps Juan dela Cruz/Quezon City/Wala ako sa payroll) and send to 09189122813. (JCM/EAD-PIA6 Negros Occidental)