THIRTY-TWO more local government units and four national government agencies have signed a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the use of the agency’s Listahanan or National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction’s (NHTSPR) database of poor households.

Records of the National Household Targeting Unit show that all the municipalities in the provinces of Aklan, Antique and Guimaras have already signed a memorandum of agreement with the DSWD for them to be allowed access to the Listahanan’s database.

As of this writing, 122 out of 133 LGUs in the region are already using the database as their bases in targeting beneficiaries of their social protection programs and services. The DOH and PhilHealth are among the first data users of the database.

In May, the DSWD Central Office also signed the request for MOA of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Department of Agriculture, Department of Interior and Local Government and the Department of Labor and Employment.

From January to June this year, 32 LGUs from the different provinces in the region have also signed a MOA with the Department namely: Makato and New Washington in the Province of Aklan; Barbaza, Bugasong, Culasi, Laua-an, Patnongon, San Remigio, Tibiao, and Valderrama in Antique; Pontevedra in Capiz; Nueva Valencia, San Lorenzo and Sibunag in Guimaras; Oton, Zarraga, Pototan, San Enrique, Passi City, Carles and San Dionisio in Iloilo, and Bacolod City, Calatrava, Toboso, Escalante City, Cadiz City, Sagay City, Silay City, San Enrique and Himamaylan City in Negros Occidental. These LGUs will now have a common reference in targeting beneficiaries of their social protection programs and services.

“When implementers of programs use the Listahanan database, they are targeting the real poor who deserve the government services most. This means that government resources are not wasted,” said Assistant Regional director Joel P. Galicia.

After the signing of MOA, data users were provided with the electronic copies of the National Household Targeting Office-Proxy Means Test results covering the selected demographic profile of poor households in Region 6. The attached disk also contains the list of poor households per barangay, including the socio-economic information, which can be used in the planning and budgeting for provision of assistance to their poor constituents. By having uniform criteria in choosing their beneficiaries, it is assured that the resources of the government benefit those who really need them.

Executive Order No. 867 issued in March 2010 has directed all National Government Agencies (NGAs) to adopt the results of NHTS-PR in identifying prospective beneficiaries for their social protection programs nationwide.

The NHTS-PR or Listahanan is an information management system that identifies who and where the poor are in the country. The system makes available to national government agencies and other social protection stakeholders a database of poor households as reference in identifying potential beneficiaries of social protection programs.

The Listahanan data users are mandated to give their feedback to the DSWD regional office on how they utilized the data in the implementation of their pro-poor programs./dswd6/Wenna B. Bendol