PORTALJABAR, GARUT REGENCY - Garut Regent Abdusy Syakur Amin attended and launched the 2026 Great Family Assistance (Balebat) distribution event, which was held in conjunction with a Coordination and Evaluation Meeting for Human Resources for the Family Hope Program (PKH). The strategic event took place at the Garut Regency Hall, Garut City District, on Tuesday (June 30, 2026).

The Balebat Program is a concrete step taken by the Garut Regency Government (Pemkab) under the leadership of Garut Regent Abdusy Syakur Amin and Deputy Regent Putri Karlina to implement their campaign promises. This program is specifically designed to address gaps in social assistance distribution to ensure targeted assistance to the extreme poor in the first decile.

During the event, the Garut Regent expressed concern after discovering inaccurate data in the field. A joint investigation by Family Hope Program (PKH) assistance workers and the Social Services Department revealed that approximately 36,000 poor residents had not received any assistance at all, either from the central or local governments.

"We've only distributed the aid to 1,000 people. 1,000 times 2,000,000 is 2 billion, but it's being distributed in stages. The PKH (Family Hope Program) and the Social Service (Dinsos) are responsible for the data collection by name and address. The current distribution is in cash, and for those living far away, we'll send it via post. One million per household, one million in June, one million in December," said the Garut Regent.

He emphasized that this program will be implemented annually with regular evaluations. The local government is committed to ensuring that those selected as beneficiaries are truly deserving citizens who have previously been overlooked in other social assistance programs.

"We try to have it every year, because there are always public complaints regarding these gaps. This is fast for us, right? We use the DTSEN in April. This year, 1,000 people are eligible for assistance, and we'll evaluate it again next year. The point is, they are eligible to receive assistance but don't receive assistance from other sources," he said.

On the same occasion, the Head of the Garut Regency Social Service, Marlinda Siti Hana, said that the Balebat Program was present as a concrete manifestation of the realization of the eight missions of the Regent and Deputy Regent, especially in the fourth point of regional development priorities regarding optimizing the reduction of extreme poverty in Garut Regency.

Marlinda explained that the data filtering process was carried out very strictly to prevent overlapping aid.

"Of the total 107,000 families in decile 1, we'll take those who truly don't receive any assistance. This means they're excluded from the Family Hope Program (PKH), let alone the Social Security Program (BPNT), the Social Security Program (BPJS), and the Social Welfare Direct Cash Assistance (BLT Kesra)," he said.

Marlinda explained that from this number, this year, one thousand priority heads of families were selected based on the age level of the oldest head of the family, with an even and fair distribution of around two to three heads of families per village.

"A total of 107,000 families in decile 1, meaning the extreme poor, remain at 36,000. Of these 36,000, we will take 1,000 this year. We will distribute 2 million rupiah per family twice this year, the first time in June to 1,000 people," said Marlinda.

The Social Services Department recognizes that any new regulation will inevitably trigger dynamics in society. Therefore, the Department is prepared to explain in detail the technical aspects of determining this regulation.

Marlinda emphasized that the success of this program is highly dependent on the validity of the data, so conducting direct field checks or groundchecking is crucial to ensure the accuracy of the target beneficiaries in the future.

(Garut Communications and Information Service/rka)