DSWD, Manila gov’t form task forces for city’s homeless

The Manila city government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) are forming local task forces in the barangay (village) level to identify homeless families and get them off the streets as beneficiaries of the government’s aid program for the poor.

The plan was unveiled during Friday’s signing of an agreement between Mayor Joseph Estrada and the head of the DSWD-National Capital Region, detailing the latter’s Oplan Bahay Sagip-Buhay project. An earlier DSWD statement on Sagip-Buhay in May vowed to clear Manila and Quezon City of street dwellers within the year.

According to DSWD-NCR Director Alicia Bonoan, 27 task forces on barangay street dwellers are being formed to identify families who will be covered by her agency’s modified conditional cash transfer program (MCCT) and a separate initiative focusing on street children.

The MCCT’s premise is similar to that of DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program which provides cash incentives for the poor. The former targets families in extreme poverty, like those living in sidewalks or under bridges, Bonoan said.

DSWD consultant and former undersecretary Celia Capadocia-Yangco also explained that “we are partnering with barangay bureau heads because at the current dynamic, barangay governments are expelling homeless families instead of managing them.”

The covered families will be provided financial assistance enough for them to rent homes. The Department of Labor and Employment and public sector partners will also be tapped to help find jobs for the adult family members.–Mariejo Ramos