The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office V recently conducted the Pantawid Pamilya Family Day 2015 in Sorsogon City. The event was graced by the Voice Kids Philippines-Grand Winner, Lyca Gairanod.

Around 3,000 pantawid pamilya families in various barangays gathered at the gymnasium of the said city to celebrate the said event with the theme: “Tuloy ang Pagbabago.”

The activity aims to showcase the gains, positive changes brought by the Pantawid Pamilya Program on the lives of the poor families.

“Bicol Region is among the second largest number of beneficiaries in the Philippines with a total of 376,029 households benefiting from the program. I also thank and encourage our partners to continuously support Pantawid Pamilya in attaining its goals and objectives,” Regional Director Arnel B. Garcia said.

Pantawid Pamilya is a human development program of the national government which invests in the health and education of poor households with children aged 0-18.

Known as the Philippine version of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), the Pantawid Pamilya provides cash grants upon compliance to the set of responsibilities which the identified beneficiaries committed to undertake. This includes school attendance of at least 85% of children aged 3-18; pre- and post-natal care for pregnant women based on the government protocol; regular health check-ups for children aged 0-5; deworming for children enrolled in elementary school; and attendance to Family Development Sessions.

Under the program, identified beneficiaries received a cash grant of P500 in health and P300 (elementary) or P500 (high school) in education for a family that has three children, ages 0 to 18.

During the activity, Agot family of Barangay Sto. Domingo, Vinzons, Camarines Norte and Canon Family of Palanas, Pilar, Sorsogon are awarded as first runner-up and second runner up, respectively, for being the Huwarang Pantawid Pamilya Winners during the conduct of Search for Huwarang Pantawid Pamilya 2015. They also received plaques of recognition and cash prizes P8,000.00 and P5,000.00, respectively.

According to Lani Agot, the program does not only help their family to improve their daily living, sustaining the needs of her children along education and health but also made her personality whole. “Ako po sarong solo parent, pero sa tabang kan programa, nagka-igwa ako nin kusog na patapuson an sakong mga aki hangang sa kaya. Kaya po salamat sa programa. Sana diretso ang pagtabang nin Programa sa mga arog ming nagtitios [I am a solo parent, but through the program, I gained strength to continue my children finish their education to the best I can. That is why I am thankful of the program. I hope the program will continue helping poor families like us],” she said.

Also, Civil Society Organizations, private and partner government agencies extended their social services to the beneficiaries such as; Sorsgon Integrated Health Services Foundation Inc. (SIHS) provided free eyes and ears screening, Federation on Associations of Communities and Children Empowerment Inc. (FACE) provided 1,000 foldable fans, Department of Agriculture provided 500 vegetable seedlings and Aqua Care for free bottles of water for the beneficiaries.***GANLindio,IO-Pantawid