As part of the Bureau’s partnership with other agencies, the Standards Bureau (SB) led the benchmarking activity with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s (PCSO) Institutional Partnership (IP) Program on May 18, 2026 (Monday).

The activity aims to have an in-depth knowledge of PCSO’s IP Program, specifically the eligibility,  requirements,  procedures, monitoring,  mode of  transfer and liquidation for granting subsidies or assistance to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Social Welfare and Development Agencies (SWDAs).

The PCSO’s IP Program is a social welfare response that provides funding assistance to augment the budgetary needs of registered, licensed, and accredited NGOs and SWDAs to support the nutritional, medical, and health interventions of marginalized and vulnerable client groups.

During the activity, Assistant Bureau Director Cynthia V. Ilano shared the overview of the DSWD Memorandum Circular No. 09, Series of 2026, or the “Pilot Implementation Guidelines for the Cost of Care Subsidy through Private Residential-Based Social Work Agencies (SWAs).” 

She highlighted that this is a pilot implementation project that provides fund augmentation to DSWD-registered, licensed, and accredited private residential-based SWAs to cover the “cost of care” for beneficiaries.

Finally, resource speakers from the PCSO including Dr. Trine Ramos, Concurrent OIC-DC of the Institutional Charity Assistance Division, and Ms. Myla Copino, Social Welfare Officer, discussed the PCSO’s IP Program in greater detail covering the scope and coverage, eligibility and documentary requirements, assessment procedures, amount of incentives provided, mode and procedure of transfer and liquidation of funds, and its best practices. (MGCBA)