DSWD to keep old programs as review goes on

New DSWD Secretary Dr. Judy M. Taguiwalo during the International Conference on Social Work at the Manila Hotel.
INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

AFTER announcing it would review the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the Department of Social Welfare and Development said on Tuesday it would also review the conditions of all the centers it manages nationwide.

“We want to make sure that the facilities are improved and we will see what other improvements can be done,” Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said on the sidelines of the International Conference on Social Work (ICSW) at Manila Hotel.

The two-day conference was organized to “raise wide-ranging, substantial and meaningful discussions on issues related to disaster recovery,” Dr. Qingwen Xu, president of the Asian and Pacific Islander Social Work Educators Associations in the United States and cochair of ICSW 2016, said in a statement.

Juliet Villegas, of Consuelo Foundation that coorganized the event with the National Association for Social Work Education Inc., said the conference allowed participants to “share their experiences” and “learn from each other to save more lives.”

According to Taguiwalo, there are 71 DSWD-run centers nationwide for “marginalized” groups, such as the elderly and abused women.

She said the agency was also “in the process of reviewing” social protection programs and “looking at how to implement” President Duterte’s promise during the campaign to give rice support to conditional cash transfer (CCT) program beneficiaries.

“We are still checking up on the rice assistance to the victims of the drought in Mindanao because although the rains have come, they need support,” she said.

She said the department was also planning to hold regional consultations.

Taguiwalo said the DSWD would come out with a concept paper that would recommend which direction the CCT program should take.

“One of the objectives (of the concept paper) would be to make recommendations… Will (the CCT program) be continued, will it be revised, will it be stopped? So right now (the program is) still in the review stage,” Taguiwalo said. Kristine Felisse Mangunay