After two years of hiatus, the Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office 7 revived the face-to-face information caravan in the municipalities of Minglanilla and Compostela in the province of Cebu.

The information caravan is spearheaded by the Social Marketing Unit, which aims to bring the information closer to the general public or program beneficiaries, especially those who are in far-flung areas or who have lesser access to social media on the various programs, services, or projects of the department.

Together with the information officers were program focal persons, or their representatives, who discussed their specific programs or services. They also clarified and answered the issues raised by the participants.

For the two information caravans, the DSWD 7 invited 58 fishermen in barangay Tungkop, Minglanilla, Cebu, and 35 farmers in Compostela, Cebu.  The Local Government Unit (LGU) officials also joined the activity and discussed the programs that the participants could avail of.

“Dako ug tabang ang Pantawid sa pagpa-eskwela sa akong mga anak. Apan kinahanglan pod nato makat-on pagpanguma kay dakong ikatabang ang pagpananom sa atong kinabuhi (Pantawid program is a great help in the studies of my children. But we also need to learn how to plant. Farming immensely helps our lives),” said a pantawid beneficiary and a farmer in Compostela, who also rendered a song number after her speech.

One of the participants from Minglanilla, Ms.Desideria Celis, 58 years old, who is a 4Ps member and a wife of a fisherman is very grateful to DSWD. She said that the unstable income of her husband was not enough for their daily needs, much more for the school expenses. Thus, the stipend from Pantawid program greatly helped her children from elementary until now that they are in high school.

“Gawas sa cash grant, natabangan pod kami sa SLP, tungod kay naka avail akong anak sa Skills training sa welding. Nakadawat pod mig cash grant nga Php10,000 nga gipatukod namog sari-sari store (Aside from cash grant, SLP also helped us, as my son availed the skills training for welding. Also, we received a cash grant worth Php10,000 that we use to build a mini-store),” said Celis.

Some of the programs tackled during these caravans were the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), Social Pension, Centenarian for Indigent Senior Citizens, the Centenarian Program, the Sustainable Livelihood Program, and Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS).

Aside from programs, the following were also discussed: Listahanan, DSWD Branding Guidelines, Disaster Response Management, Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC), and Trafficking in Persons.

The last information caravan, prior to this, was conducted in September 2021 in the municipalities of Pinamungajan, Dumanjug, and Santa Fe, Cebu.

Due to the pandemic, the DSWD-7 conducted the information caravans from 2022–2023 through radio programs. ###

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