Next DSWD chief to face grilling on budget hike

MANILA, Philippines - President Duterte’s next appointee to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) must be “a quick study” who must not only grip the reins of a big-budgeted agency, but also expertly defend before Congress its proposed P137.5-billion budget for 2018, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said yesterday.

The Commission on Appointments last week rejected Judy Taguiwalo, after more than a year at the helm of DSWD. Lawmakers were wary over her reported “close ties” to communist rebels.

“The budget hearings will serve as some sort of confirmation hearing that will test the capability and preparedness of the next DSWD head. It will be the appointee’s first oral quiz,” Recto said.

“When you’re asking for billions of pesos, it’s a kind of work that is non-delegatable. It’s not something that you can assign to an underling so that you can avoid the hot seat,” he said. 

The DSWD’s proposed budget is P9.5 billion bigger than this year’s. The bulk of the department’s funds will go to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and the cash transfer program that will be given P89.4 billion next year, which went up P11.3 billion from this year’s P78.1 billion.

Because the number of beneficiaries for both years will be at 4.4 million families, Recto said many lawmakers would ask why the budget for 4PS was hiked.

Another question to be asked the new DSWD chief is why the funding for the supplementary feeding program for children was reduced by P1 billion.

DSWD’s budget for meals for undernourished kids will go down from P4.42 billion this year to P3.42 billion under the 2018 budget Malacañang has submitted to Congress.

He said the next DSWD chief must be able “to hit the ground running and not spend the first months on training wheels because the agency has many programs, a 2017 budget of P128 billion, and clientele base of P29 million.”

“If tradition is to be followed, there’s a high bar to be met in choosing the head of an agency that helps those who have fallen through the cracks of society,” Recto said.

But DSWD’s expanded mandate has put the qualification standard a notch higher, he said. “The magnitude of programs leaves no room for an OJT (on-the-job-trainee) to take over Judy Taguiwalo’s seat.

“One in five Filipinos today is a recipient of assistance. In all, 28.29 million Filipinos are regular beneficiaries of its welfare and development programs,” Recto said.

Through its mega-billion cash transfer programs, the DSWD, in effect, maintains the country’s biggest payroll. This year, 4.4 million families or about 19.36 million individuals are enrolled in 4Ps, he said. 

He also cited the almost three million senior citizens who receive P500 a month under the Social Pension for Indigents Program.

The DSWD is also a “big catering operation” as it serves one nutritious meal a day to 1.746 million kids for 120 days, which translates to 209 million kiddie meals served in yearly.

“It runs orphanages, halfway houses for women in distress, old age homes with a projected total clientele of 410,000. This includes individuals in emergency situations in need of assistance,” the lawmaker said.

He said the DSWD, as first-responder to calamities, has war evacuees to attend to. “Marawi alone has 201,000 individuals, and this year, the DSWD has budget to attend to the needs of 346,000 people,” he said.

Recto said 1.54 million are enrolled in various DSWD livelihood projects that also implement small community infrastructure programs.