The Department of Social Welfare and Development ( DSWD) Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Juliano Soliman visited the region on August 18-19, 2014 as part of her Convergence Road Show to reinforce the mandate of the government in providing social justice to the poor and underprivileged sector of the society.
Ang Pagbabago ay Nagsisimula sa Pamayanan
This is the thrust of the Secretary’s message to the Cagayanos, particularly to the beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and Sustainable Livelihood Program in Barangays Patagueleg, Penablanca, Linao East, Tuguegarao City and Piat, Cagayan.
Sec. Soliman was especially impressed with the testimony of Josibel Sibal, a Pantawid beneficiary who experienced life-changing opportunities thru the help of Pantawid program. The said beneficiary rose from being a small-time gambling operator to being a barangay health worker upon realizing the ill-effects of her means of livelihood to the character development of her children through the Family Development Sessions (FDS) she attended.
Shared by the Secretary, “These testimonies of the beneficiaries should put to rest the criticisms hurled against the program, especially those coming from the members of Congress who believe that the program is a bane.”
Meanwhile, Sec. Soliman encouraged the beneficiaries of SLP who are the Pantawid beneficiaries as well as the local officials of Piat, Cagayan to promote Agro-tourism in the said municipality considering that the Local Government Unit has strong technical support from the Cagayan State University- Piat Campus. She also visited the Organic Vegetable Farming site of the beneficiaries which is an offshoot of the Farmers Field School training on Organic Vegetable Production cum Integrated Pest Management conducted last year.
One of the conditionalities of Pantawid that the beneficiaries should faithfully comply with is to regularly attend FDS facilitated by Municipal Links in every barangay with the goal of strengthening family values.
On the other hand, Sustainable Livelihood Program seeks to improve the socio-economic capacity of the poor through a capacity building program that will develop the entrepreneurial and technical skills of the poor households.
Redirecting DSWD’s programs
In her meeting with the staff of DSWD Field Office 02, Sec. Soliman reiterated her directives to hear more stories of transformation through DSWD’s programs as exemplified by the testimonies of the beneficiaries.
She hopes that, “through Pantawid and other programs of the department, there will be an increase in the percentage of beneficiaries whose economic status escalated from survival to self-sufficiency.”
In this regard, Sec. Soliman bared DSWD’s plan to conduct the second screening of household beneficiaries sometime in September so that more beneficiaries will have access to Pantawid and other social protection program.
Hence, she urged DSWD FO 02 employees to continue their hard work and make themselves partners of the government in attaining its goal of alleviating the economic status of the poor and marginalized sector of the society and prove that indeed, “ang pag-babago ay nag-sisimula sa pamayanan.”
Welcoming Sec. Soliman in Cagayan were DSWD Regional Director Remia T. Tapispisan, Asst. Regional Director for Operations Ponciana P. Condoy , Asst. Regional Director for Administration Delia Sto. Tomas and other DSWD technical staff, the Provincial Government of Cagayan and PSWDO-Cagayan. ### By GELA FLOR R. PEREZ, Regional Information Officer II