BUBONG, Lanao del Sur, Philippines – At least 1,273 residents from 36 villages of this municipality are now recipients of the Pantawid Pamilya program, a countryside cash transfer strategy sustained and enhanced by the Aquino government in pursuit of its avowed thrust to reduce poverty in the country.

Municipal Mayor Al-Faiz Tucalo Munder and hundreds of his constituents hailed Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman and President Aquino alongside the leadership of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) for including his town under the program.

“This (Pantawid Pamilya) is a little step with a big cause. The cash yields may be meager but its implication is tremendous to the feeling of Muslim Filipino’s belongingness to the national main stream,” Munder told journalists after a distribution ceremony here recently.

The Pantawid Pamilya is a national program designed and enhanced for five more years under the Aquino government to address pervasive hunger and illiteracy rate in the country.

Soliman underscored before a crowd of beneficiaries the potentials of this anti-poverty program amid criticisms that the project will not address the fundamental problem.

“We shall prove that we can overcome poverty together and help build peace stemming from justice,” Soliman said.

As this developed, she urged every household-beneficiary to fulfill the requirement of sending their children to school and seeking regular visit to nearby health centers.

DSWD-ARMM acting Secretary Pombaen Kader said that aside from the benefits given in the initial trance, beneficiaries will also be provided sustainable livelihood program in the form of a cash loan of P10,000 each to set up their own small business.

The cash loan through Self- Employment Assistance program has no collateral, Kader added.

Kader said the beneficiaries will undergo training on small business before they can avail of the P10,000 cash loan.