“Hindi na kami ngayon natutulog sa malamig na semento sa sementeryo… may ligtas na tuluyan na kami at nakakapag-aral na ng maayos ang mga anak ko dahil may kuryente ang bahay namin,” shared by Charito Macalalad in front of her fellow Parent Leaders during the Intercity learning visit of beneficiaries held today in Parañaque City.

Charito, 46 years old and a solo parent of her six (6) children previously resided in Himlayang Palanyag Public Cemetery in Brgy. San Dionisio, Parañaque City from 2009 to 2012 with no fear on the risks they may encounter in said area.

In their early tenure in the cemetery, Charito engaged herself to any source of livelihood that may help her provide the needs of her family. Due to anxiety she is always experiencing when away from her children, she eventually refrained from working and just stayed in the cemetery together with her children.

Since 2009 to 2012, the cemetery has been the home of Charito’s family wherein she conceded that during that time, they felt degraded with the inconsiderate suspicious eyes of the strangers towards them.

Aside from losing self-confidence to face and interact with other people, Charito’s faith to God also diminished which make it hard for her to believe in the divine mercy when her family suffers in extreme poverty.

However, in October 2012, Charito finally glimpsed a hope brought by her family’s registration to Modified Conditional Cash Transfer for Homeless Street Families (MCCT-HSF) of DSWD.

“Malaki ang pinagbago ng aking pamilya nang mapasama kami sa MCCT-HSF… lalo na’t ako ang inihalal na Parent Leader sa aming grupo… bumalik ang tiwala ko sa aking sarili… ‘di na kame nahihiyang humarap sa ibang tao ngayon,” Charito added.

Charito was previously hired under the Cash-for-work scheme of the program and will also be employed as street facilitator wherein she will be one of the partners of the Department in reaching out street children and families in the major thoroughfares in Parañaque City.

Macalalad family is among the 4,408 MCCT-HSF beneficiaries in Metro Manila who are presently being monitored for education and health compliance of the program for them to receive the cash grants due to them.

Started in 2012, MCCT-HSF covers the families who were not included in the regular Conditional Cash Transfer program or the Pantawid Pamilya due to mobility of the street families that made them difficult to be monitored in health and education facilities.

Also, since they do not have house structure which is one of the variables being considered in the Proxy Means Test (PMT) of Listahanan, street families were not enumerated during the first round of household assessment in 2009-2011 which led to special validation for homeless street families in 2012.###