ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office 9 through the National Household Targeting Section (NHTS) has officially started the receiving and processing of appeals and grievances pertaining to the initial list of poor households generated from the Listahanan 3 assessment in the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi since Monday, August 23.

The agency urges the public to review the accuracy of the initial list of poor by filing grievances if applicable prior to the finalization of the information management system to ensure that the Listahanan 3 database will serve as a reliable reference for social protection stakeholders to employ in the formulation and implementation of their respective programs and services, among others.

Those who were not interviewed during the data-collection phase may appeal to be assessed. Complaints or inquiries on household information and classification (whether poor or non-poor) will be received and evaluated through formal channels beginning with the Area Supervisor (AS), followed by the Barangay Verification Team (BVT), and the Local Verification Committee (LVC).

The AS assigned in the barangay will receive and process all grievances using the Validation Search Application (VSA). Only those grievances from households residing in the barangay (where the actual validation is conducted) shall be accommodated by the assigned field personnel.

The BVT will be composed of the Barangay Chairperson, First Kagawad, Kagawad in charge of social services, one representative of a Civil Society Organization (CSO), and Sub-Project Management Committee Chairperson for Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) areas. The team will evaluate the grievances received from the community in coordination with the Listahanan field personnel.

Moreover, the LVC will have the Local Chief Executive (LCE) or his/her representative, City/Municipal Social Welfare Development Officer (C/MSWDO), City/Municipal Planning and Development Officer (C/MPDO), and one representative from two Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) as its members. They will resolve all the grievances filed, and will likewise identify and certify households that have not been visited during the assessment phase. The households identified will undergo assessment and re-interview.

Aside from the Community Desk designated in the barangay, households may also opt to file grievances online through https://listahanan.dswd.gov.ph/grievance/. All those received in the Listahanan 3 Validation website shall be synchronized with the VSA and the Grievance Tracking and Monitoring System (GTMS) for processing. 

In addition, for those (households) in rural barangays/puroks/sitios that were not covered during the assessment period, they will not be anymore required to file grievances as they will be automatically included in the list of households for interview.

For appeals concerning re-assessment, the AS will have to inform the complainant that: (a) the conduct of re-assessment shall be decided by the BVT and LVC; (b) the re-interview shall be unannounced; and (c) there will only be one attempt to secure the interview.

Based on the initial list of poor households generated during the third round of the regular assessment (for BST), out of the 77,597 households assessed in Basilan, 56,925 were identified as poor. In Sulu, 115,775 were also classified as poor from the 160,997 households assessed. For Tawi-Tawi, of the 71,006 households interviewed, only 29,558 were found to be poor.  All in all, a total of 309,300 households were covered in the three island provinces of which 202,258 were identified poor and 107,042 were non-poor. For the on-going validation, the NHTS targets to validate 35,289 grievances. ###