In support to the Listahanan second round of assessment, the barangay chairpersons and officials of the Local Government Units (LGUs) in Metro Manila have identified “pockets of poverty” in their respective areas to be included in the forthcoming enumeration of households this year.

Department of Social Welfare and Development – National Capital Region (DSWD-NCR) Regional Director Ma. Alicia S. Bonoan said that the Field Office received endorsements from barangays as agreed during the previous orientations conducted in 17 LGUs.

“We appreciated their solid support to the second assessment which aims to update the database of poor families. Their participation is highly encouraged for the success of this project; thus, we are very grateful for this response,” Bonoan continued.

Bonoan also shared that the second round of assessment is targeting some 1,267,292 poor households who need social protection services.

During the 2009 assessment, a total of 5,255,188 households have been identified by DSWD as poor, wherein 316,823 are from the National Capital Region.

Listahanan aims to develop and maintain a database of poor families which are available for sharing with National Government Agencies (NGAs), Local Government Units (LGUs), Civil Society Organization (CSOs), Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and other stakeholders to enable them to objectively identify the poor who shall be prioritized in the provision of social protection programs and services. ### (written by Kevin Suela, DSWD Field Office NCR)