January 05, 2011 SAN JOSE, Antique, Jan. 5 (PIA) -- The grant of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) is a big help to poor families especially in fighting malnutrition, meeting the educational needs of children, increased awareness on health and sanitation and enhanced participation of families in community activities.
Breccio M. Ostan, Jr., Municipal Link in the town of Bugasong, one of the towns which availed of the CCT, said that the prevalence of malnutrition has significantly been reduced from 799 in 2008 to only 474 in 2010 with a reduction of 325 underweight children.
This brought the ranking of the town from No. 7 in 2008 to No. 16 in 2010 out of 18 municipalities in terms of the prevalence of malnutrition among children.
There is also a marked increase in pre-school enrollment from 846 in 2008 to 1,174 in 2010 or increase of 27.94% and 12% increase in enrollment of elementary school from 4,783 to 5,463 in 2010, all in the municipality of Bugasong.
Enrollment in Day Care centers has also remarkably increased from 1,164 in 2008 to 1,455 in 2009 or an increase of about 20%.
Improvement in terms of health and nutrition, education and community participation are among the conditions the beneficiaries should comply with to continuously avail of the support from the CCT also known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
CCT is a flagship program of the national government on poverty reduction and social development. It provides conditional cash grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition and education, particularly children aged 0-14.
It also believes in investing in human capital to break the inter-generational cycle of poverty among poor households.
The Municipality of Bugasong is one among the five towns in the Province of Antique that availed of 4Ps covering 27 barangays and 2,236 beneficiaries where the government has released the amount of P12,527,500.00 in 2010.
Other towns include Barbaza with 39 barangays, 1,520 beneficiaries and has received the total amount of 9,437,600 in 2010.
The Municipality of Laua-an has 1,992 beneficiaries in 40 barangays with the total release of P11,837,900, in 2010.
The town of Valderrama has also availed of the P5,577,200.00 cash grant given to 1,749 beneficiaries from 20 barangays and the Municipality of San Remigio has 3,068 beneficiaries from 45 barangays which has received P7,741,000.00 during its last quarter release.
Lazaro Petinglay Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer in an interview said, with the cash grants now in full swing, we expect the beneficiaries to move on with the compliance to the conditions of the program and at the same time empower themselves to become self reliant and partners in community development.The Provincial Government under the leadership of Governor Exequiel B. Javier is very supportive of the program. The Governor has issued an Executive Order creating the Provincial Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Advisory Committee to ensure the smooth implementation of the program, said Petinglay.
Due to the laudable implementation of the program, Petinglay noted that DSWD has already approved the expansion of seven other towns in the province this year to help thousands of poor families deserving of government assistance.
The expansion program will carry on the convergence strategy where the flagship program of DSWD such as SEAK-K, KALAHI-CIDSS, OBAMA and 4Ps will be implemented.
Petinglay expressed gratitude to President Benigno S. Aquino III in behalf of the Antiqueños particularly the beneficiaries, for the grants they received will go a long way in alleviating their conditions and eventually mobilize and empower communities to become self-reliant. (PIA/psm)
http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=1&t=1&id=10198
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