MAKATI, City- Seventy one or 97 percent of the 73 local executives in Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan (MIMAROPA) entered partnership with Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through the unified Memorandum of Agreement during the 2016 Stakeholders’ Forum.
Dubbed with the theme, ‘Tunay na Malasakit sa Mahihirap: Maagap at Mapagkalingang Serbisyo’ the forum was held in St. Giles Hotel divided into two batches: August 30- September 1, 2016 for the re-elected mayors and September 14-16, 2016 for the newly elected mayors.
“Let us take the challenge of transforming the poor individuals, groups and communities for service excellence. We need to reach the unreached and the isolated,” said DSWD Director Wilma Naviamos during her message.
The institutionalization of this forum recognizes the value and significance of the Local Government Units (LGU) in the implementation of all DSWD programs and services adhering to the current mandates of Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo of providing quick and caring services for the poor and vulnerable sectors.
Up to now the Department maintains a smooth relationship with the LGUs where more personal and professional relationship were established, Naviamos added.
Program Orientation and Updates
The Department’s thrust and priorities were shared to the mayors including the program updates of Kalahi-CIDSS, Social Pension, Supplementary Feeding, Sustainable Livelihood programs.
To date in MIMAROPA, 569, 316 households were assessed and 207,863 are identified poor according to 2015 Listahanan database. Nevertheless, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino records a total of Php1.7 billion cash grants which was released to 192,778 beneficiaries for this year, while 1,140 ineligible households involved in gambling were delisted from the program.
Meanwhile, the National Economic and Development Authority MIMAROPA shared the government’s Ambisyon2040- a long term vision of Filipinos in the next 25 years. Also, the Department of Interior and Local Government MIMAROPA discussed the Seal of Good Local Governance highlighting the Social Protection as one of the indicators.
LGUs Support and Commitment
The unified program MOA between the LGU and DSWD will guide the implementation social protection programs in terms of administrative support and fund augmentation.
Busuanga, Palawan Mayor Elizabeth Cervantes commit to support DSWD programs. “The Department is one of the government agencies that provide care and protect the rights of children and youth and other sectors. In fact from womb to tomb, DSWD is there to serve,” she said.
On some program implementation gaps and challenges, Naujan, Oriental Mayor Mark Marcos said that there is no perfect program but there is an effective program. It is just a matter of perfect planning as he challenged other local executives to work in achieving the goal on poverty reduction in MIMAROPA region. ###
