Constancia Atig of Tagbilaran City also spends the early hours of her day cleaning the Cogon Elementary School in support of Brigada Eskwela. (CONTRIBUTED)
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Central Visayas was expecting around 380,000 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program children beneficiaries aged 3-18 to enroll this year in the provinces of Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor.
A total of 310,830 of the 382,032 schoolchildren monitored in the region as of March this year are in elementary. Expected high school student beneficiaries are about 51,000. Some 20,000 will be in preschool.
Pantawid Pamilya is the conditional cash transfer program that aims to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty by investing in human capital.
Petecio “Pepe” Torrentira of Barangay Dagnawan, Sagbayan, Bohol said the program has been a big help to his family because the grant they received aided them in buying the school needs of his children.
Pepe’s family was adjudged as the Huwarang Pantawid Pamilya regional winner last year and placed 2nd runner-up in the national competition.
Jerry Medalba, a single parent from Balamban, also said that Pantawid Pamilya, through the Family Development Session (FDS), helped him take better care of his children.
“I have five children and it is not easy for me to raise them alone. But I’m doing my best as a father to them,” Medalba said.
“Nakatabang sa akoa ang responsible parenting nga topic sa FDS kay dili lalim mahimong inahan ug amahan sa akong mga anak (The responsible parenting topic in FDS has helped me because it is not easy to play the role of a mother and at the same time father to my children),” he said.
Medalba sends all his kids to school and is even active in joining school activities.
Recently, he was among the thousands of Pantawid Pamilya grantees in the region who joined the Brigada Eskwela 2016 spearheaded by the Department of Education (DepEd).
Like Jerry and Pepe, Constancia Atig, 39, from Barangay Cogon, Tagbilaran City also spent the early hours of her day last June 1 at Cogon Elementary School.
Atig, a mother of five disclosed that she has been actively joining the Brigada Eskwela not only because it’s mandatory but because she wants to help the teachers in preparing the school for the opening of classes.