Across Region 9 there were a total of 2,969 households who received cash grants through Retroactive Payment. These were the beneficiaries who appear in the Pantawid System with No grants or Lack of grants, however upon careful validation, they were found to be compliant with the conditionalities hence Retro payment is being processed. The Grievance Redress System (GRS) will process the complaints upon submission of the beneficiaries the Certificate of Compliance, GRS will verify the said complaint in the PantawidPamilya Information Sysytem (PPIS) and if found beneficiaries were compliant, GRS will now prepare for the payroll, it will then be uploaded in the database for approval, once approved the Regional Office will then schedule for the disbursement or fondly known as the payout for Retro grants.

Ilyn Flores, 28 years old, a housewife from LogoyJutay Talon-Talon, Zamboanga City, said that the retro grants were timely as it was disbursed last December. I didn’t expect that I would still receive the Retrogrant, it was more meaningful for us to celebrate Christmas. I bought new clothes for my children and had a little celebration for our nochebuena. Plus I started a small business. I used the remaining grants to sell gasoline for Habal-Habal Drivers.  I can say that the Retro payment brought joy in our life specially last yuletide season.

Ilyn who was married to Raymond Flores 30 years old who is a farmer, expressed her gratitude to the program for its continuous support to her children Ricky 5 years old and to Irylle 2 years old. Ilyn added that she never lost her trust to the program even those times she did not receive her grants, she also shared that beneficiaries should not always rely on the financial assistance given by the program.

 

Another resident of  LogoyJutay, Talon-Talon is Jessica Montaño, 29 years old and married to Alex Montaño, a mother of 3 children. Jelex 8 years old, Alex Jr. 5 years old and Trisia Mae 2 years old.  In an interview, Jessica mentioned the hardships her family went through. My husband is just a labourer in a dried fish warehouse and raising 3 children with a minimal income is next to imposible. That is why we are forever thankful to PantawidPamilya Program for helping us in the augmentation of our needs. When I received the Retro grants last December, I was very happy. I bought them Vitamins as recommended in the Health Center to ensure their good nutrition.We also bought a surplus Television since my children use to watch movies in our neighbour. Now that we have our own TV my kids have the liberty to watch movies without going elsewhere.

Ilyn Flores and Jessica Montaño were just amongst the few who had received the Retro Payment. With the continuous efforts of the Pantawid staff in ensuring the transparency and upright implementation of the program, there would be more beneficiaries who would be supported during their trying times.