BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred P. Dizon
BARLIG, Mountain Province -- A former vice
mayor of this town was so pissed off that his name and others were not included
in the government’s social pension program that he left the distribution center last
week and returned tipsy lambasting Welfare workers in English.
Under the program senior citizens who are
receiving SSS or GSIS pension are reportedly not entitled to DSWD special
pension worth P500 per month. Actually, Welfare workers delisted the names of some Barlig
senior citizens when they found out they were receiving SSS and GSIS pensions.
The delisted elderlies reportedly complained
that they should have been included in the DSWD pension, so Welfare workers
explained that rules are rules and they had to implement this.
***
Later, Welfare workers went to Natonin, an
adjacent town to distribute cash to seniors. One related they were in a hotel
computing money to be disbursed. The manager of the hotel was reportedly
talking so loud in an adjacent table that they had to tell him to lower his
voice as they were being disturbed.
The manager and a companion were drinking
liquor and this infuriated him prompting him to make remarks the Welfare
workers were just poor people otherwise
they would not have been in the most remote town of Mt. Province.
According to folks, the guy, a closet queen,
was reportedly a peacock with a P6,000 monthly salary who thought highly of
himself that he often got into trouble with visitors and local folks.
***
What the character didn’t know was that the
DSWD workers had decent wages and were actually carrying cash worth millions of
pesos with them at that time for distribution to beneficiaries.Enough of this
peacock as government workers have to contend with their likes everywhere in
this Banana Republic.
Anyway, the DSWD reportedly hired a Fortuner
SUV to ferry the workers and the money. The services of the vehicle may have
been acquired through bidding but, insiders said since the DSWD had other
vehicles, it was a waste of money to hire the Fortuner.
Some were reportedly of the opinion that it
was better to hire private vehicles at the last minute for security reasons
during cash distribution occasions.
***
According to our neighborhood perennially
drunk philosopher during one of our roadside conversations, there could be some
security gaps in this kind of practice as bad eggs within the DSWD itself could
actually rig a holdup using outsiders. Shouldn’t social pension funds be given
in checks so beneficiaries could be properly accounted for? He posed this
question saying this will lessen security problems in transport of millions of
pesos in cash.
Before the new regional director assumed
office, there have been news of beneficiaries in the Cordillera like Baguio
City who were actually rich but were recipients of the DSWD’s conditional cash
transfer (CCT) scheme. Beneficiaries should be poor, according to Welfare
workers, so they can avail of the social fund. Was this connected to the
transfer or “promotion” of the previous director?
***
Anyway it is a welcome development that Sen.Chiz
Escudero asked the DSWD to strengthen its screening procedure for recipients of
the scheme and step up the process of weeding out spurious names from the list
of deserving beneficiaries under the government’s flagship poverty alleviation
program.
Escudero put to task the DSWD following
reports quoting a study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which showed that
one-third of the P62 billion allocated for the CCT program last year did not go
to the poor.
Since the centerpiece poverty reduction program
was put in place by the DSWD, only a small fraction has been delisted while the
weeding out process has been slow, Escudero noted in a press statement e-mailed
by his office to the Northern Philippine Times.
“They have delisted less than five
percent since the program began,” Escudero said. “While the weeding out process
is ongoing, it is too slow given the magnitude.”
He added: “We are throwing away money
to those who do not need or deserve it to the exclusion of those who might or
other worthwhile endeavors that also need funding and fiscal space.”
***
According to Escudero, it was alarming
to know that about 30 percent, or P19 billion, of money allocated for the
monthly cash doleouts did not go to the intended beneficiaries.“That is quite
alarming because we are talking about P19 billion in government funds meant for
poor families. This is another injustice to the poorest of the poor who are the
target beneficiaries of the poverty reduction program,” the lawmaker said.
The senator said it was the DSWD’s job
to ensure that funds earmarked for the program, officially known as Pantawid Pamilyang
Pilipino Program or 4Ps, will go only to the most vulnerable sectors.
“If the funds fail to reach the
intended recipients, then it defeats the purpose of the program which is to
provide social protection for and directly assist the poorest members of
society,” Escudero said.
The program provides cash grants to targeted
poor Filipino families based on sustained, verified compliance with certain
health and education conditions. Such conditions include sending children to
school, ensuring they receive regular checkups, and participating in family
planning and nutrition.
***
Under the cash assistance program implemented
by the DSWD, each identified poor family receives a monthly stipend of up to
P1,400, or a total of P15,000 every year for five years, on condition that it
sends children to school and clinics for vaccination, among others.
The program was patterned after the conditional cash transfer schemes in Latin America and African countries, which have lifted millions of people around the world
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