THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) yesterday said more than 5.599 million poor households or families are likely to benefit from programs and services given by the government and developmental organizations.
DSWD, during the launch of its “Listahanan 3” poverty database, said 36 in every 100 families or households in the country can be considered poor.
This, it said, is based on their assessment of 15.487 million households from 42,045 barangays from 81 provinces, 145 cities and 1,489 municipalities nationwide.
The highest number of poor families was in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Zamboanga Peninsula and the Mimaropa regions.
DSWD also found out that 1.5 million poor households are vulnerable to natural or human-induced disasters, more than one million poor families have no access to electricity and often use kerosene for their light and wood to cook food, while more than two million have no access to clean water.
The DSWD survey also showed that 54.8 percent of poor individuals, or around 16.7 million persons, are of working age (15 to 64 years old), while the rest are young or old who are dependent on others.
On the other hand, about 41.4 percent or two of five senior citizens are employed, while 69.7 percent or 10.56 million children who are poor are attending school.
The DSWD also learned that around 2.8 million of those who live in poverty are farmers, of which 5.5 percent are already in their old age, while five out of 10 Indigenous Peoples (IPs) households are poor.
DSWD said the Listahanan 3 poverty database, which was started in 2019, provides important information which can be used as a basis in targeting beneficiaries for social protection programs and declassifying the types of help that could be provided.
“The DSWD hopes that with the Listahanan 3 data, the resources and funds of the government, as well as other organizations, will be spent helping the rightful beneficiaries, eventually leading to their improved lives,” it added in a statement.
The release of the Listahanan3 database comes at the heels of the Senate’s plan to reduce the budget for the different subsidy programs of the government, including the conditional cash transfer program Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program (4Ps), to P110 billion in 2023 from P300 billion this year.
The 4Ps program benefits around 4.4 million families and DSWD is asking for a P115.6 billion budget for the program alone in 2023.
