More poor children are expected to enjoy their basic rights to education and health as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program reaches 3 million poor households. From 2.3 million households last year, the program which is also widely known as CCT (conditional cash transfer) is now on its fifth level of expansion and has completed 65% of the 4.6 million poor households identified by the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR).

Tubaran is identified as one of the most depressed municipalities in Lanao del Sur where rido or feuds between clans and families is prevalent. Rido is characterized by recurring retaliatory acts of violence carried out to avenge a perceived affront or injustice. This has been considered a major factor contributing to the impediment of progress in Mindanao.

Layla Meneses, a beneficiary from Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro affirms her dignity as she asserts that being a beneficiary of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program goes beyond receiving cash grants.

For the longest time, Rossell Arenas would battle the scorching heat of the sun along with other mothers in Capas, Tarlac to collect left out rice grains in muddy fields. At best, she can collect 1 sack of rice grains in a week’s time to feed her family of four. 

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman is pleased to note the result of the study conducted by Dr. Rosario Manasan, senior research fellow of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) where it cited improvement in school enrollment in areas where there are children-beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. The study was published in the November 2011 issue of PIDS Policy Notes.

“Let no one be left behind” is a slogan adopted by the Department of Social Welfare and Development to stress the goal of its social protection programs: that no Filipino is left by the wayside as the country pursues development.