The 2015 second round of household assessment is finally over and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through the Listahanan launched the updated database of poor households in the country Tuesday, this week.

A total of 5.1 million households were identified as poor in the entire country out of the 15.1 million households assessed. This translates to 14% decrease in poverty rate compared to the results of the first assessment in 2009.

Through this database, the government will be able to develop social protection programs that are targeted to address the felt needs of the poor. This database will also serve as the basis in the identification of potential beneficiaries of social protection programs.

“It is their (beneficiaries) situation that dictates the services to be given to them. The government is actually able to focus its resources to who need it the most,” says DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman during the launching of the database.

DSWD reiterates, however, that inclusion in the list of poor does not guarantee a household automatic inclusion to government programs such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program as this program as well as all other programs from the government and other social protection stakeholders follow certain qualifications.

Meanwhile, the national launching of the Listahanan database strengthens the partnership between the department and its stakeholders such us the World Bank and other national government agencies.

“Listahanan has become a major database of core social protection programs,” says Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, Amanda Gorely.

In Region IX, 366,621 households were initially identified as poor out of the 665,866 households assessed as of September 30, 2015. This does not include those who were assessed and reassessed during the validation period conducted at the last quarter of 2015.

Regional launching of the database will be conducted after the 2016 elections.

Local government units, national government agencies, non-government organizations are encouraged to utilize the updated database in identifying beneficiaries of their programs. This serves as an effort in securing that funds and resources are not wasted by targeting the genuinely poor and deserving less fortunate individuals as recipients.