Legazpi City- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Bicol has provided the number of poor households in Bicol to National Food Authority (NFA)  Region V last July 11, 2019, which will serve as their reference in the prioritization of beneficiaries of the Focused Rice Distribution Program to be implemented this September.

According to NFA Regional Manager Henry Tristeza, NFA rice will only be available to the consuming public in the accredited rice distribution outlets in the 40 provinces in the country with high poverty incidence as reported by the Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA). In Bicol, it includes the provinces of Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate, and Sorsogon.

“The DSWD’s Listahanan data will enable us to determine areas or barangays in need of NFA rice distribution outlets,” said Tristeza.

Under Executive Order 867, all national government agencies (NGAs) are mandated to use the Listahanan data for their programs and services to the poor. Likewise, this should be updated every four years.

Other national government agencies such as Philhealth, Department of Health (DOH), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), among others, use the Listahanan data for their poverty reduction programs.

Listahanan is an information management system that aims to establish a database of poor households that serve as a basis in prioritizing the poor as beneficiaries of social protection programs.

Meanwhile, DSWD Director Arnel Garcia clarified that the data to be shared by the agency shall be solely used for purposes of social protection activities which comprise programs and activities that seek to reduce poverty.

In 2015, the DSWD has identified 372,451 poor households out of the 1,082,582 households assessed in the region.

To date, there are two (2) NGAs, four (4) P/LGUs, and two (2) academic institutions that accessed and utilized DSWD’s Listahanan 2 data.