MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Vice President (OVP) on Tuesday stood by its claim that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) had ignored some of its aid referrals, even going as far as tagging Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian’s denial as “inaccurate” and “misleading.”
Gatchalian on Monday denied that the DSWD snubbed some of Vice President Sara Duterte’s referral requests for aid.
“The claim by Secretary Rexlon Gatchalian that the [DSWD] has accommodated all referrals from the [OVP] is inaccurate and misleading,” OVP Director for Operations Norman Baloro said in a statement released by the OVP.
“An example of this was a request for assistance to an identified group of individuals whose livelihood were affected due to the African Swine Flu virus. The request was denied because the DSWD claimed that they cannot do ‘mass payout,’ and yet they are able to do it in other areas, together with other politicians,” said Baloro.
Baloro likewise claimed that there is “clear evidence” from different satellite offices of the OVP that some clients referred by the OVP have been left unattended by regional offices of the DSWD.
This, he said, included 7,056 pending applications for the Assistance for Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) and 2,597 pending applications for the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) referred by the OVP Panay and Negros Islands Satellite Office to the DSWD Field Office-VI.
“Hanggang ngayon ay wala pa ring naiaabot na assistance (until now no assistance has been extended),” said Baloro.
Apart from these, Baloro also said identified beneficiaries from the OVP satellite offices in Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor have reported that they have yet to receive any form of assistance from the DSWD.
“There is no clear explanation provided by the DSWD to the OVP referred clients from the Satellite Offices on the delay or inaction on the requests,” Baloro said.
Baloro said that dismissing these clients is the same as to “ignore the real challenges many Filipinos face in accessing social services.
“We call for DSWD’s immediate action to address these gaps and fulfill the government’s obligation to provide aid to every Filipino,” he said.
This development stemmed from Vice President Sara Duterte’s claims during a Senate budget hearing in August that the DSWD had rejected some of the OVP’s referrals simply because they were tagged as “enemies.”
Gatchalian’s side
But in the DSWD’s Senate budget hearing on Monday, Oct. 14, Gatchalian denied that there were OVP referrals snubbed, stating that he was willing to show messages exchanged between the DSWD and the OVP to disprove such allegations.
The messages, according to Gatchalian, were between DSWD Asec. Ulysses Aguilar, who handles the referrals from the OVP, and Baloro.
He also committed to sending a copy of a plaque that the DSWD received from the OVP in mid-2024, recognizing the agency as a valued partner of the OVP.