IT may be the biggest province hereabouts, in fact holding nearly half of the Ilocos region’s total population, but Pangasinan, as far as the social welfare authorities are concerned, is the poorest province in the region.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development touts its own survey figures in 2006 which showed that Pangasinan is the poorest in Region 1 and one of the 20 poorest in the country.

In the DSWD reckoning, giant Pangasinan—which is also one of the biggest rice producers in the entire country — trails La Union, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte in household income.

The result of the survey was the basis of DSWD in choosing Mabini, Bolinao, Urbiztondo and Aguilar in Pangasinan as beneficiary-towns whose poorest of the poor will be granted assistance under the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino (PPP).

Marlin Peralta, assistant regional director of DSWD in Region 1, said that Pangasinan was selected based also on the result of the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) through the whole region.

She said from the list of 20 poorest provinces, DSWD identified the poorest municipalities based on the result of the Small Area Estimates (SAE).

PPP is a poverty reduction strategy that provides grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition and education particularly of children aged zero to 14.

The program targets 300,000 households throughout the country.
These households will receive cash grants of P6,000 a year or P500 per month per household for health and nutrition expenses; and P3,000 for one school year or 10 months of P300 per month per child for their educational expenses.

The educational expenses are limited to the third child of school age per family.

Peralta admitted that DSWD is just starting the PPP in the four Pangasinan municipalities but she expressed hope that this will also be expanded to other towns of the other provinces in the region.

DSWD is the lead agency in the implementation of the PPP assisted by the Department of Education and the Department of Health. Local government units will be their partners.

Whatever manpower these agencies already have in the target municipalities will be utilized for the implementation of PPP, she explained.