Politicians Must Stop Harassing DSWD Beneficiaries

by RECTO I. VIDAL

The Pantawid Pampamilya, a national anti-poverty program of the DSWD, is threatened.

In a year end news conference with the media, DSWD regional director Brigoli bared they have received reports that a number of beneficiaries got threatened by certain politicians under the pain of being delisted in the Pantawid program if they will not cast their votes for them. There were reports too that said government program like the universal health insurance program is also being claimed by credit grabbing politicos. 

In said press conference, Brigoli appealed before the public not to believe such propaganda. “The Pantawid Pampamilya program is a national program aimed towards alleviating poverty among the marginalized sector of our society. Clearly, it’s not a local government initiative thus this program is non-political,” she averred.

Brigoli said that “no one can delist a legitimate beneficiary. Not even the DSWD Sec. Dinky Soliman herself. No one has the power to strike out anybody in the list. This can only happen if said beneficiary is not compliant to the guidelines set by the DSWD.”

Brigoli made it clear that the beneficiaries must hurdle certain conditions for them to stay in the program. There is a formula on how one can be delisted and this can be gleaned according to the monitoring done by the DSWD like the non attendance of classes for at least thrice and failure to attend a family development session.

“We don’t want them to go back to survival mode on their journey to self-sufficiency. We must preserve their gains and prevent them from going back to scratch,” Brigoli enthused.

Describing the upcoming elections as an empowering exercise, Brigoli disclosed that the DSWD has already prepared strategies to educate the public on how to counter such misleading information being peddled by unscrupulous politicians.

“We want the best for our people. That’s why we are targeting in an organized and scientific manner as we aim to break into the generational cycle of poverty. We will see the impact of the program once the beneficiaries graduate from this undertaking.”

Brigoli likewise said that the DSWD secretary has already issued a memorandum to DSWD workers not to play politics. She also clarified that there is no election ban as far as implementation of DSWD projects are concerned.

“All DSWD programs must be sustained to ensure that there is high compliance among the beneficiaries as to the requirements set by the DSWD,” she said. /MP