ALMOST 7,000 households in Bacolod City received their first ever cash grants from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) recently.

Belen Gebusion, Provincial Operations Officer of Pantawid Pamilya in Negros Occidental, said the beneficiary-households belong to the Set 6 phase of the Program which were validated late last year.

“These are on top of the more than 3,000 beneficiaries who have been covered by the Program since 2010. To date, Bacolod City has some 10,346 beneficiaries availing of health, nutrition and educational grants through Pantawid Pamilya,” Gebusion said.

Imelda delos Santos of Brgy. 27, Bacolod City said she is very thankful to the assistance from the national government. She received P2,800.

“Dako gid ang bulig sang kwarta nga nabaton ko. Makabakal na ako sang black shoes para sa bata ko sa culminating program nila sa prep. Ang iban, ibakal namon bugas (The money I received is a big help. I could now buy a pair of black shoes for my daughter’s culminating program in preparatory school. The rest of the money will be used to buy rice),”she  said.

Imelda is a mother of five, the eldest of which is in grade 4 while the youngest is five months old.

Gebusion said around P15 million was released for Bacolod City beneficiaries during the two-day cash grant distribution held at Brgy. 4 and Bays Center on March 7-8, respectively. The distribution was led by the Philpost. The cash grants covered the period November-December 2012.

Pantawid Pamilya is the national government’s flagship poverty alleviation program. It provides financial assistance to poor households with children aged 14 years old and below. In exchange of the grants, the beneficiaries need to comply the Program’s conditions on health, nutrition and education. (DSWD6/Alma L. Jornadal)