DSWD chief Erwin Tulfo. (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary (DSWD) Erwin Tulfo reprimanded five employees who were not answering the agency’s hotline calls.
Tulfo said that the employees stationed at the hotline center received a warning for their unresponsive conduct.
“Reprimand at warning sa limang kasama natin sa hotline operations dahil hindi po kasi nila sinasagot ang mga tawag sa hotlines. Ano pa pong silbi ng mga hotlines kung wala namang sasagot,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
(Five employees assigned to our hotline operations were reprimanded and warned for not answering calls. So what is the use of the hotline numbers if no one will answer the calls?)
The DSWD chief recently relieved two other employees—one stationed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and another in the satellite office in Tagbilaran City, Bohol—due to their rude conduct at work.
The employee at NAIA was removed from their post and was given a warning for their action towards a newly arrived mother and minor from abroad.
Tulfo said that the employee’s action was not following the health standards of the Interagency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases in assisting the mother and child.
Meanwhile, the Tagbilaran satellite office staff was relieved due to a complaint of rudely talking to a client. However, the staff was also reprimanded, duly warned, and made to undergo a re-training for proper treatment of clients.
“The said staff already apologized to the client who was only asking how to be a Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiary,” DSWD said in the same statement.
For his part, Tulfo assured his employees that no one would be left behind as long as he was the DSWD chief but reminded them to provide an “excellent public service to the poor, vulnerable, marginalized, and disadvantaged sectors in society.”
Tulfo then emphasized the role of the clients: “Sila po ang dahilan kaya may DSWD. Nasa sa inyo kung gusto ninyo pang tumulong o maglingkod sa mga mahihirap, matatanda, PWDs, IPs, nasalanta at mga palaboy o inabandonang mga bata”
(They are the reason why DSWD exists. It is then up to you if you still want to continue helping or serving the poor, the elderly, the persons with disabilities, the Indigenous Peoples, the disaster victims, the street dwellers, and the abandoned children.)
Tulfo also added that employees who no longer wish to serve the public may leave the agency freely. – Xander Dave Ceballos, INQUIRER.net intern