MANILA, Philippines – It was a tough 2013, with a string of calamities to respond to and a deluge of criticisms to fend off. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), however, just chose to carry on with its work, and the President can only be thankful.
“Not everyone can do the work that you do,” President Benigno Aquino III told the employees on the department’s 63rd founding anniversary on Thursday, January 16.
“You know, I admire the workers of DSWD…. At DSWD, I know that for a lot of you, practically all day, every day, you are faced with problems. There are those hit by calamities, those with disabilities, the victims of abuse. Breakfast, lunch until dinner, and sometimes even your midnight snack – it is the welfare of our countrymen that serves as your meal,” he said.
The President said despite all their efforts however, the DSWD is still the subject of much criticism and little appreciation. He compared the DSWD to Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, who he said was unjustly criticized and was urged to resign for missing his deadline of restoring power in Yolanda-hit areas by just a few hours.
Aquino rejected Petilla’s resignation.
“Despite your work, I know that as you continue to shed sweat, tears, and sometimes blood just to help those in need, there are those of our countrymen – although there’s just a few of them – who, when they speak, it’s as if the government has done nothing good,” he said.
“I heard that during the relief operations for Typhoon Yolanda, a lot of you were hesitant to rest your eyes even for a bit because you were afraid that if you were photographed, they would say you weren’t working,” he said jokingly.
He said the DSWD was not appreciated enough for their work, and that they sometimes receive more complaints than gratitude, yet “not one of you waved a white flag and surrendered.”
In the days and weeks following Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) – which ravaged central Philippines and left nearly 8,000 dead or missing and over 4 million homeless – netizens, local and international media, and citizens slammed the government for what they felt was subpar performance in its relief and recovery efforts.
The government has sinced launched a rehabilitation blueprint worth P360.9 billion ($8.17 billion) over 4 years – the country’s biggest reconstruction effort since the end of World War II.
No bonus
Aquino also specifically praised two DSWD employees – Danny Franco Bitara and Noemi Mongaya – for their relief efforts following Yolanda. The chopper carrying Bitara and Mongaya crashed while in the middle of operations, putting their lives in danger. The two received a special citation from the government for their work.
Aside from DSWD’s contributions post-calamities, Aquino also lauded the DSWD for the work it has done in relation to the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program, which expanded in 2013; the 334,158 families helped by the Sustainable Livelihood Program; and the 3,541 projects aided by the Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services, which he said helped 841,000 families.
Despite the generous praises, however, Aquino did not announce a bonus for DSWD employees, unlike what he has done for agencies he feels has performed superbly. Just last December, Aquino was so satisfied with the performance of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), he announced a P10,000 anniversary bonus for each of its employees at its 80th anniversary.
In 2013, both man-made and natural calamities ravaged the Philippines. The siege of Zamboanga City in September, which resulted in 20 days of fighting between rebels and government troops, was followed by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Bohol in October. Just a month later, Yolanda, the world’s most powerful typhoon to make a landfall, ravaged central Philippines. – Rappler.com
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