The proposed 2010 budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development which amounts to more than 25 billion pesos or 142.27 percent increase from the 10.6 billion pesos 2009 budget, seeks to provide better social protection services to a broader clientele.

“A major portion or 23 billion pesos of the proposed budget is allotted to increased services for the poor and disadvantaged groups,” Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral explained.

According to Secretary Cabral, the 23 billion pesos will be utilized to implement the big ticket programs of the DSWD such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan - Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services: Kapangyarihan at Kaunlaran sa Barangay (KALAHI-CIDSS:KKB), Self-Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K), National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) project, International Social Welfare Services for Filipino Nationals (ISWSFN), “Malusog na Simula, Yaman ng Bansa” project, Healthy Start Feeding program, Core Shelter Assistance Project, and social pension for older persons.

A budget of 10 billion pesos has been proposed for 2010 for the 4Ps intended for 700,000 household beneficiaries from the 254 cities and municipalities in 42 provinces of the 17 regions.

The DSWD has also allotted more than 1.5 billion peso-budget for the proposed Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan - Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services: Kapangyarihan at Kaunlaran sa Barangay II (KALAHI-CIDSS: KKB II).

“For 2010, we are hopeful that the KALAHI-CIDSS project will be fully implemented and institutionalized in another 995 Barangays in 36 municipalities,” Secretary Cabral stated.

Moreover, the DSWD has allotted 39 million pesos for the Self-Employment Assistance- Kaunlaran (SEA-K) program to provide capital seed assistance to some 16,405 families nationwide.

The National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) project has a 722.5 million proposed budget which targets to assess 4.1 million households to be included in the database and some 2.05 million households to be identified as poor through the Proxy Means Test (PMT).  The PMT determines the socio-economic category of the families by looking at certain proxy variables such as ownership of assets, type of housing, education of the household head, livelihood of the family and access to water and sanitation facilities.

The International Social Welfare Services for Filipino Nationals (ISWSFN), a regular program of the DSWD, has a proposed 76.7 billion peso-budget.  Under this, the DSWD will establish eight (8) additional social welfare attaches (SWAs) in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Malaysia, Jeddah, Kuwait, Korea, Riyadh and Jordan to address the needs and concerns of our OFWs in these countries,” Secretary Cabral emphasized.

For the “Malusog na Simula, Yaman ng Bansa” project, the DSWD targets more than 623,554 day care children who will be provided with one kilo of rice every day for 120 days equivalent to more than 1.87 billion pesos.

On the other hand, the DSWD targets some 146,811 day care children who will be provided with hot meals for 200 days under the Healthy Start Feeding program with a proposed budget of 500 million.

Likewise, for the Core Shelter Assistance Project, the DSWD has proposed a 500 million budget for the shelter units of 7,500 family-beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, pursuant to the 2007 SONA commitment of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on long-term care for older persons, the DSWD has included in its proposed budget the provision of social pension for older persons.  Under the project, more than 1.3 million older persons who are 70 years old or more and not members of any pension plan will be provided with a monthly non-contributory cash transfer of 500 pesos.

“The DSWD also proposed budget for social services for irregular and undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and social reintegration services for children and families of children in armed conflict, as well as for the after care services and reintegration support for released prisoners,” Secretary Cabral added.  ### (DSWD-Social Marketing Service) July 2, 2009