DSWD set to implement phases II, III of National Household Targeting System

by Lito Dar

Baguio City (16 August) — To further ensure the efficient delivery of social protection program to poor households nationwide, the government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), is now implementing the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR).

In a radio interview, Cecil Basawil, NHTS-PR focal person confirmed that the DSWD-CAR has already finished phase I of the program, which covers Apayao, Abra, Kalinga and Mountain Province, the CAR provinces that belongs to the 20 poorest provinces in the country.

The NHTS-PR is a data management system that identifies who and where are the poor in the country. The system makes available to the public a data bank of poor households as reference in identifying beneficiaries of social protection programs.

Based on the data of DSWD-CAR, as of May 31, they have already released P57,258,200 worth of assistance, under the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), to more than 13,000 poorest families in the region.

At the national level, the government’s 4Ps already benefited 700,000 poorest families or equivalent to about 4.5 million family members, which the President reported in her State of the Nation Address last July 27.

DSWD is now set to implement Phase II and III of the NHTS-PR, which will cover all the municipalities in the province of Benguet and Ifugao. According to Basawil, they are tasked to finished the survey by December, so that the program will not be tied up with any controversy with the upcoming 2010 election.

With this development, Basawil announced that they are now hiring emergency employees. For Benguet, they need 62 enumerators, 9 encoders, 6 area supervisors and 1 area coordinator. To those interested to apply they can visit the DSWD-CAR Regional Office or call them at 444-8129 for more details.

For Ifugao, needed are 55 enumerators, 10 encoders, 6 area supervisors and 1 area coordinator. For those who reside in Ifugao but are visiting or in the vicinity of the city, they can also submit their application at the DSWD office, though the final interview and hiring will be done and scheduled by the DSWD-CAR in the province itself.

Accdg to Basawil, for the phase I of NHTS-PR, they have employed 274 emergency workers, in line with the President’s Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP). (PIA)