BUTUAN CITY -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office Caraga extends its warmest congratulations to one of the top passers during the February 2022 Social Worker Licensure Examination (SWLE).

Regine Mae Dagohoy, an Expanded Students' Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA) scholar, ranked 9th in the 2022 SWLE. Coming from the municipality of Sibagat, Agusan del Sur, their household was registered to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in 2008.

“Thank you ESGP-PA Scholarship kay nakalahutay jud ko’s 4 years sa college. Proud former 4Ps beneficiary here, dili jud babag ang kalisud basta pursigido ug naay Ginoo mag-uban (Thank you to the ESGP-PA Scholarship because I was able to complete 4 years in college. I am a proud 4Ps beneficiary, and truly being poor is not a hindrance as long as you are persistent, and you have God with you),” Dagohoy posted on her Facebook, still in awe of the news.

Moreover, she graduated as Cum Laude in Caraga State University, one of the top-performing schools in the 2022 SWLE as per Commission Resolution No. 2017-1058(C) series of 2017, with a 100% passing rate

In 2016, a budget of Php2,500,000,000 was allocated through Joint Memorandum Circular No. 01 to be used for tertiary education of poor but deserving students belonging to indigent households, this was called the Expanded Students’ Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA).

The program prioritized the beneficiaries of 4Ps by providing them the opportunity to get college education, and in the process, increase their chance to get better employment in the future, and ultimately uplift the lives of their family so that they become contributors to national development. (Social Marketing Section/DSWD-Caraga/PIA-Agusan del Sur)