GASAN, MARINDUQUE – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) MiMaRoPa continues its efforts in promulgating the positive changes brought in the lives of its partner-beneficiaries through the conduct of the “Kaya Ko Ang Pagbabago” launching in the municipality’s covered court last August 4. With more than 100 attendees, the activity aims to inform the public of the positive changes in the lives of the partner-beneficiaries through the convergence of the Department’s core programs – Pantawid Pamilya, KALAHI-CIDSS and Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP). It is also a venue to inspire the participants to use their full potential and spread the message of hope and empowerment. “Totoong nakakatulong ang mga programa ng DSWD sa pag-angat ng kabuhayan ng mga benepisyaryo nito sa bayan ng Gasan, pero sana huwag iasa at sana mas lalo pa silang magpursige. Ang pamahalaan ng Gasan ay lubos na nagpapasalamat sa tulong na naibigay ng DSWD,” said Mayor Vicky Lao Lim. A presentation showcasing the accomplishments of the three core programs was also provided. Video and live testimonies of partner-beneficiaries as well as partner-agencies on the impact of the programs were shown. “Malaki ang naitulong ng Programang Pantawid sa aking pamilya, bukod sa natulungan akong pag-aralin ang pito kong anak, dati nung wala pang pantawid nasa bahay lang ako ngunit noong napasali na ako sa programa naging aktibo na ako sa iba’t-ibang gawaing pangkomunidad,” testified by Leodigario Mandac, a Person with Disability and partner-beneficiary of the program. The Department does not only ensure convergence in the programs and services but also with other stakeholders such as the partner-agencies and local government units to create holistic development in the community. “Sinisiguro ng DSWD na walang maiiwanang mahihirap kaya ang tatlong programa ng DSWD ay nagsasanib at nakikipag-ugnayan sa ibat-ibang ahensya at sa lokal na pamahalaan upang makamtan ang tunay na pag-angat ng kabuhayan ng ating mga mahihirap na mga mamamayan,” said Domingo V. Agra, Regional Program Coordinator of SLP.

MALATE, Manila— About 36,502 poor senior citizens are receiving monthly cash grants in MiMaRoPa according to the DSWD Social Pension (SocPen) Program. In the recent SocPen regionwide Project Implementation Review (PIR) shows that the DSWD MiMaRoPa has disbursed more than Php22.1 million to 14,749 beneficiaries for the first and second quarter of 2015. Pay-outs of cash grants to senior citizens are ongoing for the said two quarters. Social Pension is a social protection program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) that provides php500.00 monthly cash grant to indigent senior citizens aged 60 years old and above stipulated in the Republic Act 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010

Beneficiaries of SocPen are determined by the DSWD in coordination with the local government units, local Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) and Federation of Senior Citizens Association of the Philippines (FSCAP). The Department prioritizes indigent, frail, sickly or with disability, and without pension or permanent source of income senior citizens. To date, the province of Oriental Mindoro has 11,759 social pensioners while 10,333 pensioners in Palawan. There are 5,992 pensioners in Romblon and 5,444 pensioners in Occidental Mindoro. Nonetheless Marinduque has 2,974 social pensioners. ###

DSWD MiMaRoPa continues to share stories of change

Indigent senior citizens receive monthly pension in MiMaRoPa

A social pensioner in Paluan Occidental Mindoro signs the acknowledgement foam as she receives her monthly stipend.

Moreover, cheques were awarded to SLP projects that day the Lamesa SEA-K of Brgy. Lamesa, Sta. Cruz and Galing at Sipag Tungo sa Kaunlaran of Antipolo, Gasan amounting to Php255,000 and Php80,000, respectively. A dance of the “Kaya Ko” Song was not missed in the activity together with the participation of the partner-beneficiaries and different stakeholders such as DepEd, DOH, Day Care Workers, Barangay Councils, Marinduque Council for Environmental Concerns, iHELP and the local government unit. ###

Participants line up as they enter the venue after the parade in the town proper for the Kaya Ko Ang Pagbabago launch.

EDITORIAL BOARD

ADVISERS Wilma D. Naviamos, Regional Director

Floreceli G. Gunio, Asst. Regional Director for Operations

WRITERS Mary Anichie Itoh Jason Eco Oliverio

Pantawid Pamilya conducts SWDI DSWD calls for ‘foster parents’

MALATE, Manila— Under Philippine Republic Act 10165, foster care is a planned temporary substitute parental care given to a child implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). DSWD MiMaRoPa intensifies its cam-paign to encourage more couples or individuals for foster parenting. At present there are 44 licensed active foster parents in Mindoro, Marindu-que, Romblon and Palawan provinces providing care to 40 foster children. Foster parents provide a full-time aux-iliary care to abandoned, surrendered, neglected, orphaned, waiting for adop-tion, victims of abuse and with special needs children. “Applicants for foster care must be of legal age, morally upright, physically and mentally capable and emotionally mature,” said Social Welfare Officer Priscilla Contreras. Foster parents must have genuine interest, capacity and commitment in parenting and able to provide familial atmosphere for the child as required by the Department. Meanwhile, a foster child is entitled to a cash subsidy from the DSWD. The said child is automatically a PhilHealthbeneficiary and is entitled to health insurance benefits. The fos-ter parent may receive also cash sub-sidy depending on the assessment of the social worker. A foster parent can only have a maxi-mum of three foster children. Foster parents can avail additional tax ex-emption of Php25, 000 depending on the length of foster caring. On the other hand, social workers conduct assessment to all applicants on foster care thru a home study be-fore issuing a license. This is to have a detailed character background and to check their suitability to act as fos-ter parents. DSWD issues license to protect the foster family from any liabilities. Interested applicants may visit the nearest Provincial/City/Municipal So-cial Welfare and Development Offices in their areas for complete information of foster care or they may contact the DSWD regional and provincial offic-es.###

Malate, Manila – The Pantawid Pami-lyang Pilipino Program is conducting the Social Welfare and Development Indicator (SWDI) administration to its partner-beneficiaries to assess their level of well-being. SWDI is a tool used by the Munici-pal Links (MLs), program’s frontline staff, in identifying the partner-beneficiaries’ needs and capabilities to provide interven-tion in the improvement of their lives.

To be able to achieve improvement, it is essential that the Department work togeth-er with other government agencies and local government units in providing the appropriate interventions to the partner-beneficiaries. “Sinisigurado natin na makakapagbigay tayo ng mga serbisyo sa ating mga bene-pisyaryo upang matulungan silang mapaangat ang kanilang antas ng pa-mumuhay at ang ginagawa nating SWDI administration ay makakapagbigay sa atin ng basehan kung ano ang angkop na tulong ang maari nating maibigay,” said Mr. Vincent Dominic Obcena, Regional Program Coordinator. Administration of SWDI also allows the program implementers to monitor its own goal of achieving its target of improving the capacities of 2.3 million Pantawid Pamilya partner-beneficiaries in accessing their opportunities to move their level of well-being. This goal is one of the three strategic goals of the Department targeted to be accomplished by next year. In region MiMaRoPa, there are more than 75,000 families targeted by the end of this year. SWDI has three levels of well-being: sur-vival, subsistence and self-sufficiency. There are two major indicators namely, the economic efficiency and social ade-quacy. Economic efficiency has three vari-ables: employment, income, and social security membership; while social adequa-cy has eight: health, nutrition, sanitation, hygiene, housing and other living condi-tions, educational status of household members, social-cultural, and role perfor-mance.

A score matrix is used by the MLs in de-termining the average of the interviewed household. Since the program expanded and now covers Geographically Isolated and Dis-advantaged Areas (GIDA), the Depart-ment is hiring enumerators to be able to assess the partner-beneficiaries living in these areas. At present, the administration is on-going in the five provinces of the region. It is targeted to be done October of this year. ###

San Teodoro, Oriental Mindoro – A total of 451 Pantawid Pamilya partner-beneficiaries attended the Gender Sensi-tivity Training (GST) cum Economic Em-powerment Trainings in four (4) out of eight (8) targeted barangays in San Teo-doro, Oriental Mindoro. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) MiMaRoPa conducted the train-ings together with the help of the Munici-pal Social Welfare and Development (MSWDO) staff. The training aims to educate the partner-beneficiaries on the basic concepts of gender and development, economic em-powerment that will contribute in the pro-motion of women empowerment and gender equality. It specifically aims to introduce to the participants the differ-ence between sex and gender, gender stereotype and gender bias, gender divi-sion of labor, gender based violence, gender related laws and women econom-ic empowerment through discussion on financial management. The conduct of the GST among partner-beneficiaries was identified as a need by the municipal’s Local Poverty Reduction Action Team (LPRAT) of the Bottom-Up Budgeting (BUB), a national program that aims to eliminate poverty, to prevent and eventually provide intervention on the disturbing rate of gender-based violence. “Hindi sapat na babae lang ang may alam ng kanyang karapatan. Dapat alam din ng mga kalalakihan ang mga ito upang tuluyang masugpo ang mga pang-aabuso at karahasan.,” said Pysche Mae Asencio, Regional Gender and Develop-ment Focal. She added that gender equality is not an issue of women alone but rather of men that they should take action. That is why they make sure that men attend their training also. The training started last May 2015 and is continuous until the four remaining ba-rangays in the municipality are conduct-ed before the year ends. ###

Pantawid Pamilya partner-beneficiaries attend Gender Sensitivity Training

Pantawid Pamilya Municipal Link administers SWDI assessment in Roxas Oriental Mindoro

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