Balaba hails city gov’t for programs to empower Kagay-anons

COUNCILOR Joyleen Mercedes L. Balaba on Monday congratulated the city government under the auspices of City Mayor Oscar S. Moreno for instituting the empowerment of the people of Cagayan de Oro.

In her special report during the regular session presided over by Vice Mayor Raineir Joaquin V. Uy, and as the chair of the City Council committee on social services, Balaba apprised the body of the recent graduation of 421 beneficiaries of the Pantawid

Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the government last June 25, 2021.

“The 421 4Ps graduation or exit is only one of the clear indications of our government at work. Through the constant monitoring of the city’s counterpart, the City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD), and with the help of private stakeholders, these 421

households either no longer have eligible children, meaning they are more than 18 years old or finished school or voluntarily waived because their financial status has improved and they have the capacity to be self-sufficient,” the councilor reported.

The 4Ps, piloted in 2008 and made into law in May 2019, is the government’s primary poverty reduction strategy implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) with the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Education

(DepEd) and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) as partners in addressing poverty in the country by investing in the health and education of children identified as the poorest among the poor.

“As we bring the programs of the government closer to the people, this administration, both in the national and our local level, ensure that these programs really work. We all strive to build a better society, a better city, and a better country and it will all start in

one family. This city helped hundreds of families to better their lives. I congratulate and thank each and everyone in the public service for a service well done,” Balaba said.