The Department of Social Welfare and Development faced the herculean task of assisting the disadvantaged sectors amidst the challenges that surfaced in 2009.

The DSWD, together with other government agencies played a vital role in cushioning the impact of the global economic crisis through its various anti-poverty, anti-hunger and livelihood programs.

The year 2009 was also a time for responding to calamities and rebuilding lives as the DSWD embarked on massive relief efforts in Metro Manila, Regions I, II, III, IV- A and B and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). These regions were heavily devastated by typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng, Ramil and Santi which occurred during the last quarter of the year.

The men and women of DSWD rose up to the challenge, side by side with social workers from local government units and non-government organizations in responding to the needs of disaster victims.

In the face of all these challenges, the Filipinos have once again proven that they can triumph over adversities with the solid support of a government that is ready to deliver much needed services.

Highlights of Accomplishments

1.    Assistance to disaster victims

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, joined by Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral and former Defense Secretary and NDCC Chair Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr., waves to the convoy of 140 trucks that brought relief supplies to Regions I, III, IV-A and V.

The DSWD extended augmentation support for victims of disasters amounting to more than P1.4 billion which came from DSWD's disaster fund and quick response fund, the President's calamity fund, and Core Shelter fund covering relief assistance, early recovery and rehabilitation efforts.

This support covered 3,033,410 families with 15,167,050 individuals affected by various disasters nationwide such as aircraft tragedy, armed conflicts, bombings, and explosions, deportation, landslides, conflagrations, heavy rains, high tides and waves, flooding, sea tragedies, storm surges, strong winds, tornados, and tropical cyclones.

Even now, the DSWD provides continuing food assistance to 206,317 families considered as vulnerable to hunger as a consequence of typhoons 'Ondoy' and 'Pepeng' worth P197,154,500. A significant amount came from the World Food Programme (WFP) which has an ongoing partnership with DSWD. The WFP has committed to provide continuing support for early recovery and rehabilitation from January to June 2010.

To facilitate the recovery of displaced families, the DSWD implemented the cash for work (CFW) program to provide temporary employment to some 2,833 families from the National Capital Region and Region IV-A worth P3.7 million.  The CFW activities include cleaning of debris in evacuation centers, dredging of canals and waterways, and repair of damaged community facilities.  

Some 2,453 families from affected barangays in the cities of Quezon, Marikina and Pasig have been relocated in Southville 4 Housing Project in Sta. Rosa, Laguna; Southville 5A Housing Project, Biñan, Laguna; Towerville Housing Project, San Jose Del Monte Bulacan; and Southville 7 Housing Project, Calauan, Laguna. The DSWD continues to support the National Housing Authority (NHA) in the relocating these families from danger areas in Metro Manila.

2.    Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

The DSWD effectively assumed leadership in providing humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons of Mindanao who moved to safer locations to avoid being caught in conflict between government and MILF forces as a consequence of the aborted signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain in August 2008.

In 2009, DSWD facilitated the early recovery and rehabilitation of 72,139 families with 360,695 individuals in Mindanao leading to the closure of all evacuation centers in Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and North Cotabato.

The remaining challenge is to address the early recovery and rehabilitation needs of the remaining 34,252 families with 171,260 persons displaced by conflict in Maguindanao.

The DSWD provided the IDPs in Mindanao with early recovery and rehabilitation projects, such as, temporary shelter, construction of latrines, cash-for-work, emergency shelter assistance, shelter assistance, and livelihood assistance. These projects cost P255, 456, 490.

3.    Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program  (CLEEP)

DSWD implemented CLEEP in its stewardship areas in Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao and Shariff Kabunsuan in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and in Apayao and Abra in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).  In these two regions, some 15,753 persons benefited from the DSWD CLEEP with P31,266,990 worth of assistance.

Aside from its two steward-regions, the DSWD provided employment and emergency assistance under CLEEP to some 55,734 beneficiaries with P412,420,298  worth of assistance under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction.

4.    The National  Household  Targeting  System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR)

The year 2009 also marked the realization of a long time dream to start an accurate identification of who the poor really are and where they are. The DSWD pioneered and set the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction with the goal of establishing a database of households classified according to poverty level. The system intends to rationalize the allocation of government resources to those who most deserve the assistance.
The identification started in the 20 poorest provinces based on the Family Income Expenditures Survey in 2006 and the poorest municipalities in these provinces based on the Small Area Estimates of 2003.  Households are assessed through interviews by trained enumerators using a two-page Household Assessment Form (HAF). The HAF contains verifiable indicators that are good proxies of income such as family composition, employment, education of household members, housing conditions, access to basic services, ownership of assets, tenure status, health and other regional variables. 

Some 8,128,231 households or 86.40% of the 9,407,146 targeted households for 2009 have been enumerated. So far the Proxy Means Test (PMT) has identified  1,472,929 poor households.

The information generated by the NHTS-PR on poor households can be used by groups and organizations involved in social protection programs.  Data sharing can also be for academic advancement, research and project development.

5.    Pro-Poor and Livelihood Programs

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the country's conditional cash transfer program, continues to provide monthly cash grants of as much as P1,400 to 700,000 poor families to meet their health, nutrition and education needs. By the end of 2009, 300,000 additional beneficiaries will have been indentified and shall start receiving the conditional grants by the beginning of 2010.

A Study on the impact of 4Ps in the four pilot municipalities, namely; Esperanza and Sibagat in Agusan del Sur (CARAGA), and Lopez Jaena and Bonifacio in Region x,  revealed that:

• Enrollment rate of Day Care pupils increased from 44.36% to 87.46 % and attendance rate improved from 82.75% to 88.75 %
• Enrollment rate of preschool pupils increased from 20.09% to 56.02% and attendance rate improved from  79.5% to 94.27%
• Enrollment rate of elementary pupils  increased from 74.82% to 86.71% and attendance rate improved from 87.9% to 92.14%
• Enrollment rate of high school students increased from 56.86% to 63.56% and attendance rate improved from 90.93% to 96.4%
• The number of children who received deworming pills in 2007 and 2008 increased from 20,590 to 25,001 registering a 21.42% increase
• The percentage of children who were fully immunized increased from 2,700 to 3,408 registering a 26.22% increase
• Total number of pregnant women with complete pre-natal visits increased from 1,223 to 1,778 registering a 45.38% increase

The World Bank approved a loan amounting to US$337.4M for the continued implementation of 4Ps as part of the US$405M loan for the Social Welfare and Development Reform Agenda project.

The Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI -CIDSS) is one of the flagship poverty alleviation projects of the government. It supports a community-driven development approach which aims to reduce poverty.

KALAHI-CIDSS supports community projects through fund release direct to community project accounts, which are maintained by community volunteers. From 2003 to November 2009, KALAHI-CIDSS grants have funded 5,326 community projects amounting to P5.785 billion. These projects benefited 1,147,723 households in 5,543 barangays. The community projects are Basic Social Services such as classrooms, day care centers, water systems and rural health centers; Basic Access Infrastructure, such as farm-to-market roads, pathwalks, hanging bridges, and spillways; and Common Service Facilities, such as rice and corn mills, solar driers, and rice threshers. Likewise, environmental protection projects include riprapping and slope protection, embankments, and line canals; as well as skills training and capability building in skills training centers.

Since its implementation in 2003, KALAHI-CIDSS has empowered poor communities by entrusting them with the responsibility to take charge of the implementation of their projects and has improved local governance through people participation and transparency.

KALAHI-CIDSS has also increased the income of poor barangay residents through employment in project construction work with an estimated total income benefit of P917 million. This is equivalent to P1,200 for every man or woman barangay resident employed in KALAHI-CIDSS small construction activities.

Improvement in the housing structure of beneficiaries, access to electricity, and ownership of TV became more pronounced.  Barangay residents were more active in local decision-making and implementation of projects to address their needs.

Significantly, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a US corporation established in 2004 which aims to reduce global poverty through the promotion of sustainable economic growth in poorest countries in the world, pledged to allot funding for the expansion of KALAHI-CIDSS. 

Delegates from the MCC headed by its Country Director Troy Wray visited the country recently to evaluate the project, and agreed that the proposed MCC contribution for KALAHI-CIDSS would be increased to $120 million.

PODER Y Prosperidad dela Communidad Project (PODER)

Poder y Prosperidad dela Comunidad Project (Empowerment and Development of Communities) adopts the community-driven development (CDD) processes and principles of the KALAHI-CIDSS' framework and strategies. With funding assistance from Agencia Espanola dela Cooperacion Internacional Para el Desorollo, PODER covers 162 barangays, 9 municipalities and 5 provinces in Regions III, V, and Caraga.

PODER has funded 275 projects worth P288 million benefiting more than 76,000 households since it started.  These projects include 66 water systems, 42 day care centers; 40 school buildings/learning centers; 61 drainage and flood control  systems; 21 health stations; 13 roads; 16 bridges; four irrigation systems; five post harvest facilities; and, seven livelihood activities/productivity centers.

In 2009, 59 projects worth P80 million were completed benefiting 21,530 households in 61 barangays.

The Self-Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K) Program is a livelihood and capability building program aimed at enhancing the socio-economic skills of poor families towards establishing and managing sustainable community-based credit organizations for entrepreneurial development.

In 2009, there were 1,389 SEA-K projects established benefiting 28,939 families nationwide. Funds amounting to P143,089,000 million have been released as seed capital for the livelihood projects.

The SEA-K program enables the poor to have access to credit; promote entrepreneurship; increase understanding on values of honest work, pay debts, have social responsibility; and increase their income.

The Food for School Project provides food subsidy to poor families with children in day care centers.  It is one of the components of the Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Programs of the Administration. Day care children and their families receive one kilo of iron-fortified rice per day of school.

It is an immediate intervention to address hunger among families.  In 2009, the DSWD served 502,163 children attending 13,788 day care centers in 495 cities/municipalities in 50 provinces of 16 regions nationwide, at an average of 96 days, distributing 53, 674,944 kilos of iron-fortified rice.

The Healthy Start Feeding Project (HSFP) provides supplemental food to day care children aged 3-5 years old. The food supplementation is in the form of hot meals.

The HSFP covers 240 municipalities from the 10 poorest and 10 food poorest provinces in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Region V, Region VIII, Region IX, Region X, CARAGA Region and Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

HSFP served more than 156,846 children from 5,331 day care centers in 2009. Target duration of the program is 200 feeding days. 

6. PROTECTIVE SERVICES

Young girls are provided with emotional, spiritual and physical healing at The Haven for Women.

One of the priorities of the DSWD is the provision of social protection programs and services to its center-based and community-based clients.

Center-based services are rendered in facilities referred to as "centers" on a daily basis or during part of the day.  Clients of these facilities are abandoned and neglected children, street children, children in conflict with the law, girls and women in especially difficult circumstances, older persons, persons with disabilities and persons with special needs.  The centers provide social, homelife, educational, psychological or psychiatric, economic productivity or skills training, socio-cultural, recreational, dental or medical, and spiritual services.

In 2009, the DSWD served 32,693 clients through its 62 residential care facilities, with 1,396,698 person days of care; and 2,438 clients in seven (7) non-residential facilities with 130,782 person days.

Community-based services consist of preventive, rehabilitative and developmental programs. Through these, the DSWD served 68,336 individual clients.

Awards and Recognitions

The year 2009 was another fruitful year for the DSWD as it continued to reap awards and recognitions. According to Ulat ng Bayan, conducted by Pulse Asia, the Department consistently ranked number one among the best performing government agencies. Likewise, DSWD garnered 100 percent awareness in the "Ulat ng Bayan" survey, and was once again recognized as the top ranking government agency in the implementation of the Integrity Development Action Plan (IDAP).

Behind the success of the DSWD in fulfilling its mandate and achieving its goals are its excellent leaders, headed by Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral. She was  awarded as "Outstanding Public Servant" by the Women for Women (WOW) Foundation, Philippines.

Aside from Secretary Cabral, other DSWD officials who received awards and accolades this year are Undersecretary Luwalhati F. Pablo, who was named by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) as 2009 Outstanding Professional in the field of Social Work, and Assistant Secretary Mateo G. Montaño who was conferred the GAWAD Career Executive Service (CES) Award in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments as a government executive.

Moreover, Ms. Rosario A. Silla, Social Welfare Officer V and center head of the Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth (RRCY) in Region VI was recently bestowed the Pag-Asa award by the Civil Service Commission.

Looking Ahead

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral emphasized that "this commitment and dedication to service which exemplifies the DSWD workforce will continue to propel the Department in 2010, and in the years to come. As the DSWD celebrates its 59th Foundation Anniversary in January 2010, its workers will continue to make the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable Filipinos better by being there to provide them with their needs in times of critical situations and to lend a helping hand."

"For 2010, one of the DSWD's priorities is to ensure the steady implementation of the 4Ps given its expanded coverage and geographical reach," Secretary Cabral stated.

Likewise, DSWD aims to strengthen the targeting mechanism through completion of the database of poor households as basis for identification of beneficiaries of social protection programs. The completed database may be utilized by national government agencies (NGAs) for their social protection programs.

Given the impending elections, DSWD is strengthening its advocacy efforts to inform legislators, and national and local chief executives on the Department's key programs and services, as well as critical legislations pending in Congress concerning social protection and children and youth, persons with disabilities and the elderly, Secretary Cabral added.

"Local government units, the private sector and non-government organizations have to be engaged at all levels to build the pillars of participatory governance. This is a challenge that the DSWD will have to take on," the Secretary underscored.    

Further, the DSWD hopes that the budget on poverty alleviation and social protection will increase to enable it to serve the millions of Filipinos needing assistance," Secretary Cabral ended. # (DSWD-Social Marketing Service) January 4, 2010