By
Dominic I. Sanchez
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ZAMBOANGA CITY - Who are the poor? What are their struggles, and how do they cope? These
questions will be answered in a book by the poor themselves who wish to have
their voices heard by the public.
The Department of Social
Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Social Marketing Unit here is currently
producing Paglaom Part II, a compilation of success stories of the poor,
particularly the beneficiaries of its poverty-reduction programs. The book is
tentatively scheduled to be launched January 2014.
“The beneficiaries of our
programs, Pantawid Pamilya, Kalahi-CIDSS and the Sustainable Livelihood Program
have much to share about how they are very determined to succeed in spite of
their struggles,” said Narrabelle Bue, DSWD-IX regional information officer.
The book shall contain
stories of beneficiaries of the three programs from different municipalities in
Western Mindanao. The programs are collectively called Tatsulo, which is the
agency’s convergence initiative geared towards multiplying the impact of the
three among individual families.
In the poorest
municipalities all over the country, the three programs are complementary.
While Pantawid provides families with conditional cash grants for children’s
education and health, Kalahi-CIDSS capacitates community residents in the
poorest areas to identify and implement by themselves priority developmental
projects such as the construction of roads, schools, health stations and others.
In addition, the SLP trains
Pantawid beneficiaries to be able to start a sustainable micro-enterprise.
These programs also involve the participation of various non-government and
civil society groups, to ensure that the programs are free from corruption.
Social welfare Secretary
Corazon “Dinky” Soliman has defined Tatsulo, or the merging of the programs as
a “torch that will bring the poorest out from poverty”. (PIA9)