Seniors complain of DSWD aid ‘deductions’

LUCENA CITY—Senior citizens were allegedly being shortchanged by employees of the social welfare department in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) region, who deduct P50 to P100 from the assistance given by the government, a leader of a nongovernmental organization in Quezon province said.

Zander Bautista, assistant executive director of Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance, said he witnessed the deduction of P100 during the payout of the P1,500 assistance to beneficiaries, including some indigenous peoples, in the villages of Cabungalunan and Anibawan in the island town of Burdeos in Quezon last week.

Bautista said when he confronted the two employees from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Calabarzon region who were distributing the money, they said the beneficiaries voluntary gave them P100.

“But this was not true, based on complaints from the elderly citizens. They said the money was being forcibly deducted in the form of transportation allowance by the DSWD field workers,” he said.

Bautista said the beneficiaries reported to him the anomalous practice, noting they were afraid to question the deduction for fear they might be removed as beneficiaries.

Noeme Jane Mayor, public information officer of DSWD Calabarzon, said their office would investigate the report.

“The practice is illegal,” she said in a telephone interview.

Sonia Leyson, DSWD Quezon provincial director, said she would look into the illegal practice reported by Bautista.

“We have been receiving similar reports from other towns. There were reports that P50 was being deducted,” she said.

Leyson said the DSWD office in Quezon and local social workers in the province were not involved in the disbursement of the social fund for senior citizens.

She asked beneficiaries of DSWD programs to report any irregularity.

“I assure them that they will not be removed from the list of beneficiaries,” Leyson said.

Under the DSWD Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens program that started in 2011, Filipinos 60 years old and above and who are not getting any government pension or regular income and support from relatives, are entitled to a P500 monthly cash aid.
The pension is paid out quarterly.