4Ps in Balete

The entry on page 40 of the Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul is a rhetorical question which reminds me of Pet Garmino's asking why the poor people of Oquendo and Guanko were not included in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. 4Ps is part of the hunger mitigation program of the current administration of which Balete has been included following reports from the NEDA that it ranks third in the Province of Aklan to have high poverty incidence.

Early last year, a low profile survey was conducted in the 10 constituent barangays of Balete purposely to validate the NEDA report. The Department of Social Welfare and Development spearheaded the supposedly house-to-house survey. While the project was being planned out, a good number of residents in Sitio Benitinan had migrated into the neighboring town of Libacao due to reports that the local government there was generous in providing the poor households with monthly stipend of Php. 5,000. When the survey pushed through--and in such a inconspicuous manner at that--and the results were forwarded to the concerned agency for analysis, the local officials were still in a blind. By December of 2009, the Local Chief Executive was furnished with a proxy means test result of the survey conducted where it shows that of the 4,879 household Balete has, there were only 857 households that were considered potential beneficiaries of the 4Ps. These potential target beneficiaries came from the barrios of Arcangel, Aranas, Calizo and Fulgencio.

Mayor Noemi Cordero, in a letter addressed to then DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral expressed her disagreement with the result considering that the other 6 barangays have such high poverty incidence as well. She parleyed for a revision of the listing of beneficiaries, sadly to no avail. The concerned agency had made its decision final.

Of the 857 potential household beneficiaries 10 where dropped from the list during the validation conducted on January of 2010. They were dropped from the list as they failed to attend the validation activity. The beneficiaries were supposed to receive a monthly subsidy of Php. 1,800 beginning November 2008 however, until now, their ATM are will inactive. Hopefully, these indigent families will receive their fill by June in time for the opening of classes. Also, they are to receive rice allocation under the rice assistance program being conceived by the same agency through the Philippine National Red Cross.