SAN JOSE, Occidental Mindoro – In observance of the October 17th ‘International Day for Eradication of Extreme Hunger and Poverty’, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) MIMAROPA held the 2016 Listahanan Anti-symposium yesterday.
This year’s theme is ‘Moving from humiliation and exclusion to participation: Ending poverty in all its forms.’
According to United Nations, “humiliation is pervasive among the homeless and people living in poverty; it is a negative experience that is interpersonal in nature. While shame is the result of a personal judgment of failure, humiliation tends to involve the belief by the individual that he or she does not deserve the treatment he or she is getting.”
“The symposium is an initiative of DSWD to acknowledge the effort and struggle of people living in poverty and a chance for them to be heard and recognized,” said Ernie Jarabejo, NHTS Regional Project Coordinator.
One of the noteworthy topics in the symposium is the ‘Ambisyon Natin 2040’ of National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). It is a long-term (25 years) vision for the country as a basis for unity among Filipinos which is also anchored with development planning across four administrations.
On the other hand, the Provincial Government of Occidental Mindoro has presented the pro-poor programs and services and the Social Protection Framework of DSWD which address the poverty situation in achieving the government sustainable development goals.
Listahanan also bares the results of the 2015 Household Assessment highlighting the profile of the poor in Occidental and Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan (MIMAROPA) provinces which identifies 207,863 (36.5%) poor households regionwide.
In Occidental Mindoro, 37,983 households are identified as poor. The results also revealed that Magsaysay,Abra de Ilog and San Jose are the top three towns with the highest magnitude of poor provincewide.
Meanwhile, beneficiaries of DSWD’s programs such as KALAHI-CIDSS, Sustainable Livelihood and Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Programs shared testimonies on the impact of government social protection programs to their families and community.
“Maipagmamalaki kong sabihin na dahil sa pagtutulungan ng amingkomunidad at suporta ng DSWD aynagkaroonkami ng farm to market road na nagbukas ng maramingoportunidadtulad ng mabilis na tranportasyon sa amin ng aking mga kabarangay,” community volunteer Julia Viduya said.
The symposium was also joined by the Philippine National Police, Philippine Army, academe- Occidental Mindoro State College, Civil Society Organizations, officials of local government units and representatives from media.
Listahanan is a government mechanism that identifies who and where the poor are nationwide. (Jason Eco Oliverio) ###
