ILOILO CITY: Newly installed Regional Director Ma. Evelyn Macapobre has assured full support to pursue and institutionalize the various core antipoverty programs and other service projects of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in western Visayas.

Macapobre, from DSWD Region VII, took over the DSWD regional command from regional director Minda Brigoli who was assigned to man the DSWD regional office in Region XIII or the Caraga Region in Mindanao.

The turn-over was held on Monday, at the DSWD regional compound in Molo District attended by DSWD Assistant Secretary Vilma Cabre-ra of the Institutionalized Development Group.

Under Brigoli’s three years leadership, DSWD Region VI has served 295,457 Pantawid Pamil-yang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries with cash grants of P1.7 billion released from January to December 2012.

The Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahira-pan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services has an overall physical project accomplishment of 92 percent with financial accomplishment of 85.98 percent.

A total of 133 local government units, or 185,198 children in 5,557 daycare centers benefited from the P278-million funds for supplementary feeding program. Meanwhile, 18,505 indigent senior citizens are receiving social pension from the government with P102.7 million already released for the social pensioners.

The region has 243 Student Grant-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation scholars taking up courses such as Information Technology, Special Education, Teaching, Forestry and Agriculture at the different campuses of the Western Visayas State University in Iloilo.