Sixteen local government units nationwide were selected as finalists in the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) first Gawad Listahanan.

Gawad Listahanan is an award conferred to local government units (LGUs) that have registered the most number of beneficiaries of their locally funded programs in the Listahanan database of poor families.

The Listahanan is an information management system that makes available to national government agencies, local government units, and other social protection stakeholders a comprehensive list of poor families in need of assistance.

In 2009, the Listahanan conducted an assessment that covered 10.9 million households. Of this, 5.2 million households were identified as poor.

In 2010, Executive Order 867 was issued to mandate all national government agencies to use the Listahanan database as the basis for their programs and services.

Since then, the 5.2 million households have been beneficiaries of national government programs such as Philhealth Indigent Program, and Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, among others.

Currently, the Listahanan has 1,203 data users. The majority of which are LGUs.

Those nominated in the first Gawad Listahanan are programs of LGUs that provide services such as financial assistance, scholarships and provision of health and medical, among others.

Finalists for the Municipal Category are Cuenca, Batangas; Dalaguete, Cebu; Jaen, Nueva Ecija; Pandan, Catanduanez; Cabatuan, Ilo-Ilo; Aparri, Cagayan; Malalag, Davao del Sur; and, Asuncion, Davao del Norte.

For the City Category, the finalists include Escalante and El Salvador.

For the Provincial Category, the finalists are Ilocos Norte, Aurora, Palawan, Oriental Mindoro and Ilo-Ilo.

The final awarding and announcement of winners for the 1st Gawad Listahanan will be made on January 28, 2015 at the DSWD Batasan Complex, during the celebration of the Department’s 64th Anniversary.

The awardee for each category will receive a plaque citing the highlights of their contribution and significance of their partnership with the Department and a cash prize of P50,000.