DSWD: Poor families brought to resort during papal visit now off streets

MANILA, Philippines–The homeless families who were brought last month to a government-sponsored “camping activity” in a Batangas resort—but who critics say were actually kept from public view during the four-day visit of Pope Francis—are no longer living in the streets, according the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Of the 99 families, 74 are now renting homes as beneficiaries of the DSWD’s modified conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, with the children enrolled in the Department of Education’s Alternative Learning System.

Three families availed themselves of the Balik Probinsya program and went back to their home provinces, while 10 families found employment under the cash-for-work program. Four families were placed under the regular CCT program while five were endorsed to the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction for further assessment. Two families are now sheltered at the Jose Fabella Center in Mandaluyong City.

In a briefing on Friday, DSWD director for Metro Manila Alicia Bonoan said the families were being provided with different support services to ensure that they will not return to the streets.

The 74 who are renting homes are receiving monthly stipends through the modified CCT, she said. The program mainly hands cash to beneficiaries, provided that their children are attending class and undergoing regular health checkups.

Around 2,400 families in Metro Manila have been covered by the modified CCT program since 2012, the DSWD said.

The agency came under criticism and had to give an explanation in a Senate hearing after reports surfaced that it had bused homeless families from Manila, Parañaque and Pasay to a resort in Nasugbu, Batangas province, keeping them there from Jan. 15 to 19, the same days Pope Francis was in the country.

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