DSWD to launch ‘Bawal Ang Epal’ drive

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will launch a nationwide campaign in March that aims to protect the government’s conditional cash transfer program from being used by local candidates for their political campaign.

Rodora Babaran, national program manager of the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps), said the campaign – dubbed “Bawal ang Epal Dito” – aims to protect the program from undue politicking that may affect the program’s integrity.

Epal is short for “mapapel” or people desperately trying to do everything just to be recognized.  

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago had filed Senate Bill 1967 or the anti-epal bill, which seeks to prohibit public officials from claiming credit through signage announcing public works and other government projects.

“We will have a grand launch some time in March before the campaign period for local candidates starts, this is to insulate the program from undue politicking,” Babaran said in a press briefing.

Babaran said P10 million will be used for the anti-epal campaign.

She said the department would soon come out with infomercials on television and radio. It will also have tarpaulins and flyers that will be distributed to areas where there are 4Ps beneficiaries.

The Bawal ang Epal Dito campaign aims to protect the families from baseless threats of removal from the program if they will not support a particular candidate in the coming polls, Babaran said.

She said through the DSWD’s Grievance and Redress System, beneficiaries continuously give feedback that politicians are allegedly claiming to have authority to enlist and remove them from the program.

She, however, did not identify the areas were the incidents happened.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said no one has the right to remove a beneficiary except the DSWD regional and national office.

The 4Ps is a social protection strategy that invests in the health and education of poor children aged 0 to 14.

As of Jan. 9, there are a total of 3,843,502 beneficiaries in 79 provinces nationwide.

A total of 280,000 households are expected to graduate from the program in December this year.