Erwin Tulfo: DSWD aid budget is less than P1 billion and running low

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Erwin Tulfo answers queries from media members during his visit to Bohol province on Thursday, September 15, 2022. (Leo Udtohan/Inquirer Visayas)

PILAR, Bohol — Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Erwin Tulfo on Thursday revealed that the agency’s budget is running low this year.

“Let me tell you the truth. The money of DSWD for medical, burial, and transportation now stands at less than P1 billion. [So] we’re running out of money. [Pity] other provinces as well,” said Tulfo during his visit to Bohol to attend the turnover of classrooms and an isolation center in Pilar town and the livelihood assistance payout in Carmen town.

Tulfo made the statement when Pilar Mayor Wilson Pajo told him that at least 7,000 families in Pilar have not received the P5,000 calamity assistance.

Tulfo said he was stunned when he met Bohol Gov. Aris Aumentado, who sought assistance for victims of Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai) as promised by former president Rodrigo Duterte.

READ: Typhoon Odette leaves 63 dead in Bohol, says governor

At least 295,5593 families in Bohol were affected by the typhoon that wreaked havoc in the Visayas in December 2021. However, only 135,474 families received the P5,000 assistance promised by the government.

Tulfo said he would go to Congress next week for the plenary deliberations on the department’s budget proposal and to defend the P182-billion allocation for the DSWD under the 2023 national budget.