Thirty-seven (37) out of the 96 household beneficiaries reported by the Commission on Audit (COA) as ineligible to Pantawid Pamilya are currently undergoing final stages of validation by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for possible delisting from the program. These beneficiaries from Regions III, IV-A and NCR, if validated to be ineligible, will be delisted from the program through the Grievance Redress System of Pantawid Pamilya.
The family of Gladys Bacsal is among the identified beneficiaries in Commonwealth, Quezon City who are subject for termination from the Pantawid Pamilya because they have been re-assessed to be self-sufficient after one-year in the program. The husband of Gladys was fortunate to work abroad in 2010 and is now sending US$400 monthly for his family. Gladys has also put up a sari-sari store to augment the family’s income. According to Gladys, “Nagpapasalamat ako sa Pantawid Pamilya sa naibigay na tulong sa aking Pamilya. Sana ay patuloy ang inyong ginagawang paglilinis ng programa para maseguro na mga karapat-dapat lamang ang makasama.”
Based on the Consolidated Annual Audit Report findings of the COA, 96 out of the 1,400 sample household beneficiaries included in the program cannot be considered to be “poorest of the poor” that the program primarily caters to because of their financial capacity. A number of these beneficiaries have also been found to be involved in gambling and illegal drugs and thus inappropriate to be beneficiaries of the program.
During an investigation process, 15 of 37 households have their cash grants on hold until the final resolution of their cases. The remaining 22 households, on the other hand, linked with illegal gambling and drugs have already been provided with corresponding sanctions and are ongoing counseling.
DSWD is supporting BAYAN Muna Representative Teddy Casiño’s call to action to investigate the current list of Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries and delist ineligible households. The Department is active, more than ever, to clean the database of beneficiaries for a transparent and judicious implementation of the program. The continuous “cleaning” of the database of households is done to ensure valuable resources are directed only to eligible recipients.
A total of 171,947 households have already been delisted since the start of the program in 2008 due to inclusion errors. There are those who have voluntarily waived from the being part of the program because they have already acquired assets while enrolled in Pantawid Pamilya.
The Department is strengthening the Grievance Redress System which is responsible for facilitating due process in addressing and resolving complaints and grievances related to the implementation of Pantawid Pamilya. More mechanisms will be installed to effectively support the transparent and efficient capture and processing of grievances and complaints in the program both program beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. The DSWD also seeks the active participation of the public in monitoring the program in their community and report cases of fraud and irregularities by texting it to Pantawid Pamilya Text Hotline 0918-9122813.
Pantawid Pamilya is a human development program that contributes to reduction in poverty through investment in the human capital. It provides conditional cash grants for the education and health needs of children age 0-14 years old. To date, more than 2.3 million households or about 5 million children are enrolled in the program. It targets to cover additional 700,000 households to complete the 3 million households by end of 2012.