The National Household Targeting System (NHTS) conducted an Essay Writing Contest for national government agencies (NGAs) on June 14, 2013 in Tuguegarao City.

Seventeen NGAs joined the said contest with the representatives of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Education (DepEd) and National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) as the top three victors.

Marydine L. Cambri of DILG bagged first place; Dennis John M. Espinoza of DepEd garnered second place; and Anne Margaret Y. Lasam of NEDA got third place.

The winners received plaques, cash prizes and some tokens.

“The NHTS is really beneficial to our data users. It made the works of our data users more convenient. They will no longer experience the hardship of choosing potential beneficiaries of their social protection programs. Through NHTS, the list is already there. It gives not only the figures but the faces and location of poor households,” Director Violeta A. Cruz said.

“The NHTS is highly commendable, because of their efforts and initiatives in conducting an essay writing contest as part of their advocacy efforts. I think, this is the first time that a NGA conducted an essay writing and it is good to note that there is an activity only for NGAs” , Cambri said.

Moreover, Ms. Pasencia T. Ancheta, Deputy Regional Manager, NHTS said, “We are happy that the participants responded on our invitation. This only shows the good relationship between NHTS and partners. We hope that our partners like NGAs are more encouraged to be our data users.”

The contest is one of the advocacy efforts of NHTS to continuously inform, educate and popularize NHTS among NGAs and other partners.

NHTS a special project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), is an information management system that identifies who and where the poor are.

The theme of the contest was “Targeting System: Boon or Bane? “. ###Ailyn P. Aglaua, AA-V, NHTS