Venus is DSWD’s ambassadress for kids

MANILA, Philippines—Beauty queen Venus Raj, a runner up in the 2010 Ms. Universe contest, has been named the new Ambassadress for Children’s Rights and Welfare of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman said Raj was chosen to fight for the rights and welfare of children, especially the underprivileged ones, because the beauty titlist herself came from humbling beginnings.

Raj grew up in a modest hut in the ricefields of Camarines Sur. She graduated with honors from college and later bagged the title as the Philippines’ representative to the Ms. Universe contest, where she was fourth runner up. She has since been active in show business.

Soliman said her rise to fame could inspire poor children to aspire for a better future.

As ambassadress, Raj is expected to push for the improvement in health care and education for children.

In teaming up with the DSWD, Raj praised the impact that the provision of cash assistance has on needy families, saying even small amounts provide a big relief to those who have little.

“Coming from a poor family, I went to school with merely one peso as my baon (allowance). What some people don’t realize is how big [is] the impact of cash grants to very poor families. I believe that by this role, I can inspire children to dream,” Raj said in a statement.

Raj’s selection as the new DSWD ambassadress was announced Thursday at a DSWD caravan in Marikina where the department awarded P225,000 in cash assistance to associations under the Self Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K) program, which provides assistance for microenterprises to registered groups.

The program intends to improve the group’s members’ access to basic social services and to improve their standard of living, according to the DSWD.

Marikina Representative Miro Quimbo, who joined the event, said the DSWD programs were an extra step to see to it that children remain in school and that their families stay health.

The DSWD has been holding caravans in different cities and municipalities to showcase its anti-poverty programs, which also include the conditional cash transfer wherein the poorest of the poor families receive a monthly cash assistance in exchange for seeing to it that their children go to school and that pregnant mothers have regular check-ups.

The cash transfer program has been hit by critics, who say that the big amount allocated for it by the national government would be better spent on other projects, such as those that create jobs. Critics also say the program promotes a culture of mendicancy.

In 2011, the conditional cash transfer program has a budget of P21 billion. The government wants to increase the budget for it to P39 billion in 2012.