CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Tribong Ayta of Floridablanca appealed to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to increase the number of ayta beneficiaries in their community of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the national government.
Ricardo Guiao, president of the Floridablanca Aeta Ancestral Domain said, there are 738 aeta families in the upland barangay of Nabuclod in Floridablanca town.
He said almost all of the aeta families can be categorized as poorest of the poor but only 342 households were included in the 4Ps.
He appealed to the DSWD to revisit their area and conduct re-evaluation for possible additional recipients of the conditional cash transfer commonly known as 4Ps.
“Sana tingnan ulit ng DSWD ang kondisyon ng mga pamilyang aeta sa Nabuclod. Halos lahat ng naninirahan sa amin ay mahihirap na pweding isama sa mga tumatanggap ng 4Ps,” Guaio claimed.
Elizabeth Baybayan, officer-in-charge of the provincial social welfare and development office (PSWDO) explained that some of the aeta families failed to meet the requirements prescribed by the agency.
She said eligible households are those who are classified as poor based on the National Household Targeting System-Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) and have children 0-14 years old and/or have a pregnant woman at the time of assessment.
“Some of the aeta families did not make it because during the assessment of the agency through NHTS they met the requirements for eligible beneficiaries.
Maribel Blanco, chief of administration division of DSWD Central Luzon said they will recommend to the DSWD Central Office for the reassessment of the aeta families.
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is a human development program of the national government that invests in health and education of poor households. It provides cash assistance to the beneficiaries; P300 for every child (maximum of 3 children) ages 0-14 years old, and; P500 for the lactating mom.
Recipients receive the financial support for five years as long as they comply with the conditions required by the program.
BY JENNA LUMBANG
