MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Judy Taguiwalo sought Senate action to help increase their staff running the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and the benefits given to family-beneficiaries. 

Taguiwalo, during the Senate briefing on her agency’s budget, said that the implementation of the 4Ps is not as efficient because of the volume of families each worker has to handle.  

She said that ideally, each municipal or city link should handle 500 househoulds. But currently, each worker monitors an average of 800 beneficiaries, some even reaching 1,300. 

“It is not a very efficient means of administering a program,” she told senators Wednesday, September 21.  

Municipal or city links monitor the households’ compliance with the program’s conditions such as a pregnant mother’s regular check up and the children’s attendance in school. 

“I hope the [Senate] can help us in terms of services. The staff at the ground level are key in ensuring that benefits actually go to the beneficiaries,” she said. 

Taguiwalo brought up the issue after Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon questioned the increase in the administrative costs of the program. 

“[Between 2012 and 2013], the actual amount had an increase of P5 million in administrative costs. It also increased between 2013 and 2014,” Drilon said. 

He also emphasized that the proposed budget for 2017 also provides for a higher administrative cost compared to 2016. 

The additional cost, he noted, is due to the handling of rice. For 2017, DSWD has proposed a higher budget for rice provisions, as President Rodrigo Duterte promised. 

Benefits 

The social welfare chief also said that most of their grassroots staff are working under a memorandum of agreement (MOA) and do not receive benefits. 

Out of its 13,000 contractual workers, over 3,000 are hired through a MOA. 

She asked the Senate to allow them to grant benefits to their MOA workers since the Commission on Audit prohibited them from doing so. 

Taguiwalo also said they are working on regularizing contractual workers. 

“We have requested for additional items from the budget department. [But] we have hired contractual personnel to fill in vacant positions. But it is very limited,” she said. – Rappler.com