PUERTO PRINCESA, PALAWAN – The DSWD Field Office MIMAROPA in coordination with the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Puerto Princesa City (PPC), Palawan successfully conducted the Project Orientation and Exit Conference for the Pilot Implementation of Project Children’s Health, Education, and Resources for Inclusion, Support, and Hope (CHERISH) at the Conference Hall, PPC City Hall, from  November 7 to 8, 2024.

Attended by the staff of the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) and local partner stakeholders, the activity aims to present the local situationer of the persons with disabilities, Project CHERISH design and its implementation guide, and develop an implementation plan for CY 2025.

With the established Persons with Disability Affairs Office (PDAO) and the first LGU to provide quarterly disability allowance from Php 600.00 in 2013 to P3,000.00 this year, PPC has 11,636 registered Persons with Disability, where 16.89% are children with disability ages 0-17 years old. 

Based on the city’s record, Barangay San Miguel has the highest number of registered CWD; hence, it has established its own Person with Disability Office implementing existing programs.

Thus, based on approved DSWD guidelines, the said barangay was chosen to be the pilot site of the CHERISH project in the MIMAROPA Region.

“Barangay San Miguel ranked #1 in the most functional Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) and Most-Friendly barangay of the city. In fact, our barangay has been the venue for benchmarking for disability programs. Hence, we are thankful to DSWD for choosing us to be the pilot beneficiary of the project. We will cooperate and actively participate to help the Agency implement the project to achieve our common goal – to provide holistic care and support to our children with disability.” San Miguel Brgy Captain Prince Rusell T. Gloriani said.

Maureenlie C. Velasco, Social Welfare Officer III and Marianne Joy B. Castillo, Information Officer II  of the DSWD Central Office – Social Technology Bureau (STB)  provided information about the Project CHERISH, its logical framework, general policies, institutional arrangements, and implementation guide. 

Together with Geneliza Q. Gabilan, OIC-Chief Innovations Division of DSWD MIMAROPA, responded to queries and clarifications about the selection of the beneficiaries and pilot implementation and facilitated the planning workshop.

During the planning workshop, the participants crafted the pilot implementation action plan by identifying the related activities, lead agency or organization, existing programs and services of the partner stakeholders for the persons with disabilities to complement the project, timelines, and action items based on the four (4) components of the project.

The crafted pilot implementation action plan output was presented to OIC CSWDO Remy Beltran the following day during the exit conference. As a result, the LGU will issue an executive order for the creation of a referral network, support group, and Project Management Team (PMT) who will be responsible for the selection of the beneficiaries based on the approved validation tool. Furthermore, the team would also explore possible collaboration with other stakeholders complementing the project goal.

Project CHERISH is the new community-based project where the Model of Interventions (MOI) is now being tested and hopes to provide holistic care and support to Children with Disability (CWD) through the provision of comprehensive social services and other opportunities that are geared towards the development of their full potential.  

It provides disability allowance to CWD’s parents as augmentation support for CWDs’ basic needs, health care, and education and capacitates the immediate family members and auxiliary caregivers to deliver home care and community support services. 

The project is to be implemented in areas with high prevalence of reported CWD based on the Philippine Registry for Persons with Disability (PRPWD) and DSWD Listahanan 3.