Social Welfare and Development Sec. Rex Gatchalian (Bibo Nueva España / Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Social Welfare and Development will push for the digitalization of aid distribution or DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said on Wednesday.
The move follows President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s call for government agencies to adapt to trends.
“When you already have GCash, PayMaya lahat tayo gumagamit noon, pero nakikita ninyo pa rin sa mga departamento katulad sa amin na manu-mano pa ang payout, talagang madidismaya ka,” said Gatchalian in the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing.
(When you already have GCash, PayMaya, and all of us use that, but when you see agencies like ours that do a manual payout, you feel dismayed.)
Gatchalian added that digitalization is pointless unless processes are streamlined.
“Walang kwenta ang digitalization kung hindi mo i-streamline muna ‘yung mga proseso. Siguraduhin mo na ‘yung mga requirements hindi paulit-ulit, siguraduhin mo na ‘yung mga hakbang hindi napakarami, hindi ‘yung tipong maga-upload ka na lang ng requirement ay singkwenta na requirement ang i-upload,” Gatchalian said.
(Digitalization is useless unless the process is streamlined. One has to ensure that the requirements are not repetitive and the steps are not too much to deal with.)
The department is currently working on simplifying the forms, reducing the number of steps and requirements, said Gatchalian. (Harold Hernandez, INQUIRER.net trainee)