EASING INTO THE JOB | Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, visits the Reception and Study Center for Children in Bago Bantay, Quezon City, a shelter run by his agency for abandoned or neglected infants and children. (Photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — For smoother operations and faster queues, recently appointed Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian plans to tap artificial intelligence (AI) for certain tasks in his agency, similar to how the technology was put to use by the local government of Valenzuela City where he earlier served as mayor.
During his term as Valenzuela’s chief executive from 2019 to 2022, City Hall introduced an AI chatbot application locally called “DotBot,” named after the social welfare office chief, Dorothy Evangelista, and developed in partnership with the New Zealand Embassy.
In an Inquirer interview on Tuesday, Gatchalian noted that around 30 to 40 percent of the people lining up at the local social welfare office were just there to ask about the various requirements to receive government aid.
“We found out that it was quite a hassle for them to go to the City Hall, ask questions, go home and then go back again. So, it’s double handling (of applicants),” he said.
To spare the public from that extra trip and reduce crowding at the offices, Gatchalian recalled, he thought of having a chatbot to answer the usual queries from Valenzuela residents—an innovation he now hoped to replicate at the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
More satellite offices
Along with the use of AI, Gatchalian lined up two more initiatives designed to reduce the waiting or travel time of aid seekers: the setup of more DSWD satellite offices (especially in areas where residents may not have gadgets for online access) and more partnerships with city or municipal governments for the optimal deployment of local social workers.
“One of the observations was the long lines outside the (aid) payout centers… because more and more people are wanting to ask for assistance,” the secretary said. “So we are providing them multiple information dissemination access points: webpage, social media, bots. I promised innovation so we are going to introduce innovations that have proof of concept already.”
If his plans push through, the DSWD will apparently become the first national agency to tap AI technology specifically for information dissemination.
Instructions, contacts
In Valenzuela, DotBot takes questions from residents inquiring about medical, burial or transportation assistance, how to secure a certificate of indigence, etc. It also gives instructions on the next steps and the contact details of the government office to approach.
After making the applicant fill out a checklist, DotBot also asks for the applicant’s barangay so it can make its own “followup’’ with the concerned village government regarding the individual’s requested assistance.
DotBot has been in operation since September last year, but it will be formally launched with a full-blown awareness campaign by the city government this Saturday in a program to be led by the incumbent mayor, Wes Gatchalian, the DSWD chief’s younger brother.
The elder Gatchalian was serving as a congressman representing the city’s first district when he was appointed social welfare secretary by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Jan. 31.