By Minerva BC Newman
CEBU CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Field Office -7 has awarded certificates of registration and license to two Social Welfare Development Agencies (SWDAs) and certificates of accreditation to six other SWDAs in January this year.
The eight newly licensed and accredited SWDAs are the Pagtambayayong Foundation Inc., My Refuge House Ministry, Inc.; Passerelles Numeriques Philippines Foundation Inc.; Nature’s Spring Foundation Inc.; VICSAL Foundation, Inc.; Glory Reborn Organization Inc.; Children’s Shelter of Cebu, Inc.; Kalihukan sa Kaluoy, Inc.; and the Ernesto” Asay” Yu Foundation, Inc.
According to Leah Quintana, DSWD-7 regional information officer Central Visayas has 58 registered and licensed SWDAs, 64 accredited SWDAs, 17 registered auxiliary Social Welfare Agencies (People’s Organization and Resource Agency), and two accredited Local Government Unit (LGU) Centers which are committed to provide social welfare and development programs and services to the public.
Quintana said DSWD registers, licenses and accredits these SWDAs to ensure their effectiveness, efficiency and accountability in delivering social services to those who need them.
Rose Ann Ababa, a registered social worker and Executive Director of the My Refuge House Ministry Inc. expressed her gratitude for the certificate of accreditation that their agency has received. “We are happy to have been accredited for two years already,” she added.
Ababa bared that the agency provides residential-based programs and services for victim-survivors of Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC).
This accreditation really speaks for all the things that we do for the past years,” Ababa said.
DSWD-7 Regional Director Rebecca Geamala has also expressed her appreciation for the support that these SWDAs have extended to the DSWD.
“We are grateful that we have these SWDAs as our extension arm, which we also need to support and recognize. We need to work together as a team. We need to be united,” she said.