Dinky warns candidates not to use DSWD and its programs for their campaign

DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman and DSWD Director Restituto Macuto during the inauguration of the newly constructed footbridge connecting Brgy Minohang ang Bgry Balud, Barugo Leyte



By: Lottie Salarda

Tacloban City – The Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman is calling those candidates this coming May 9 elections to stop using the name of the DSWD by promising that the survivors of typhoon Yolanda will receive additional Emergency Shelter Assistance if they win this election.

There are reports from the community in the North Western part of Leyte that there are candidates who are using the agency for their campaign this election. The Secretary clarified that their distribution of the ESA for the Yolanda survivors amounting to 9 billion pesos under the NCRRP list of former Rehabilitation Czar Panfilo Lacson, was already done.

Those promises made by some candidates are baseless and will never happen according to the Secretary. “The book is already closed”, she said.

“Para po doon sa mga kandidato na nagsasabing mabibigyan pa ng ESA ang mga lugar ninyo hindi na po kayo mabibigyan. Yan ho ay walang batayan, basehan at hindi na mangyayari kasi tapos na ang listahan,” she added.

The DSWD started the distribution of ESA for the beneficiaries on June 2014. In Eastern Visayas, the DSWD spent 9 billion pesos while in Region 6, they spent 8 billion pesos.
The beneficiary whose house was totally damaged by the typhoon received 30,000 while 10,000 for those beneficiary whose house was not totally destroyed.

“Para doon sa mga kandidato kung gusto po ninyong makuha ang tiwala at maglingkod sa mga mamamayan hindi po natin makukuha sa pagsisinungaling, dahil hindi na mangyayari dahil tapos na sa paglilista, wag na nating lokohin ang mga tao. Alam nang mga tao na nakatanggap na sila nun, wag po nating gamitin ang ESA at ang DSWD sa pagpapangako dahil wala kayong karapatan at wala ho kayong mandato, ang DSWD lang ang may mandato.”  

The ESA program grants families who lost their homes gives P30,000, those whose houses were partially damaged, P10,000.

The new guidelines limit the assistance to families with no permanent source of income or whose income is below the poverty threshold for the region, and to families whose heads are employed in government or private sector BUT whose term(s) of employment are not permanent or regular basis and do not have access to housing loans of both government and the private sector.

The rules also say: Regular employees of government and private sectors/organizations with fix(ed) monthly salary below P15,000 shall also be ELIGIBLE, provided they have not received the same assistance from other agencies and are indicated in the master list of beneficiaries in accordance with the DSWD- Disaster Assistance Family Access Card (DAFAC).

Yolanda affected 1,472,251 families in Eastern Visayas, destroying 518,878 houses and damaging 493,912 others. ###



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The various dialects of Eastern Visayas

Image
This photo was taken during the celebration of Tacloban City fiesta last 2014.  Learning is fun especially if you’re interested in exploring new things that come your way each day. One of my interests is learning on how to speak the various dialects of Eastern Visayas. I traveled a lot in the past few weeks touring around the beautiful places of our region. I never had a travel in my college years. It’s all about waking up in the morning, speaking behind the microphone and studying at night. Since I was a kid, I’ve heard people speaking in “bisaya” and I find it very short but sweet to the ears. I found out that in Eastern Visayas, the inhabitants of some towns and provinces were speaking in “bisaya”. The province of Southern Leyte widely speaks “bisaya” as the place was closer to Central Visayas where large numbers of inhabitants were speaking the same dialect. The word “pangga” is short for “palangga” means “loved” is the sweetest among all words I had ever he
Read more

First Badjao teacher aims to produce more professionals from their tribe

Image
By: Lottie Salarda The pride of Brgy Dolho, Bato Leyte, Jesus Menjani Esmani, the first Badjao teacher in their community, is committed to produce more Badjao professionals by helping his nephews to get education. In his 22 years of working as a high school teacher, Esmani has produced two Electrical Engineers, one graduate of Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Bachelor of Science in Fisheries. Esmani, as the youngest child in the family, witnessed the hardships of his parents raising them by fishing as their means of livelihood. “ If there’s a storm, it means there will no food available for us. It’s so painful to see my family in that kind of situation, so with the encouragement of my high school teachers, and with the help of my siblings, I pursued my studies and dreamed that one day I will have a job,” said Esmani. He sells beauty and food products with his teachers, classmates and friends in school to help sust
Read more

DFA now requires online appointment system in Tacloban City

Image
By: Lottie Salarda Tacloban City – The office of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Tacloban City is now requiring the passport applicants to go online to schedule their appointment. This initiative of DFA Manila started last July 1 to lessen the long lines of the waiting applicants outside their office. According to DFA Tacloban Consular Head Karen Terado, the online appointment system aims to have an efficient process of applicant’s passport. They just need to go to online by logging in at https://www.passport.gov.ph and follow the procedures. Terado said that Senior Citizens, infants, persons with disabilities and OFWs do not necessarily need to apply online because they are their priority. Although their office still accepts walk-in applicants because they are still in the transition period, they encouraged the public who are going to apply for a passport to apply online and follow the procedure. The Regional Consular Office accepts a maximum of 180 appoi
Read more