5 towns in Antique recipients of government's anti-poverty program
Five towns in the province of Antique are among the recipients of the P5 billion anti-poverty and anti-hunger program of the government dubbed as Ahon Pamilyang Pilipino.
Antique Governor Sally Z. Perez said the five towns are San Remegio, Laua-an, Caluya, Valdrerrama and Barbaza. The Ahon Pamilyang Pilipino program provides conditional cash transfers (CCT) to uplift the poorest households in the province.
Perez, in a radio interview, said she expects the implementation of the program in May 2008. She said the beneficiaries will be determined by the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) of each town.
The Ahon Pamilyang Pinoy is being implemented by the DSWD in partnership with the Department of Health, Department of Education, National Anti-Poverty Commission and the Local Government Units. It aims to break the poverty cycle by building human capital through health, nutrition and education services for the poorest children aged 0-14 years and their parents.
Perez said the list of beneficiaries for the Ahon program will be based on the list of recipients accorded with PhilHealth cards.
The governor said she will not intervene in determining the beneficiaries of the program. She also urged the municipal mayors of each recipient town to be non-partisan in the selection of the beneficiaries. She said, politicians should only manifest their presence in the distribution of the cash grant package and not in the selection process.
The Ahon Pamilyang Pinoy program provides a cash grant package of P6,000 a year or P500 per month per household for health check-ups and vaccines, and P3,000 education cash grant package per year or P300.00 per month per child going to school, to a maximum of three children per household.
This means that a poor family with three school age children, will be receiving about P1,400.00 per month provided that they send their children to school, their babies are vaccinated, pregnant mothers have one post-natal care consultation and other health and educational requirements are fulfilled.