Muntinlupa Mayor Ruffy Biazon said a plan is needed regarding recipients if the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) decides to pass to local government units (LGUs) the distribution of its educational assistance.
Social Welfare Sec. Erwin Tulfo made the decision after DSWD offices were swamped with thousands of people who were trying to avail of the DSWD Educational Assistance on Aug. 20.
“I heard the Secretary say in his presscon that there’s a budget of 500 Million. Divide by 17 regions. Divide by 17 NCR cities. That’s 1.730M for my city. That means the fund can serve from 192 to 1,730 beneficiary families, depending on the combination of students’ grade levels,” Biazon posted on Twitter on Aug. 20.
“There are 53,000 public school students this year in our city. Definitely, we need to formulate a distribution policy and plan if the DSWD will pass the duty to the LGU. Can it just be first come first served? For sure, thousands will show up. That’s what happened today,” he added.
“If they are going to tap the LGUs to assist them in distribution, we would appreciate a sit down meeting to plan the distribution, which should be preceded by a thorough communication plan,” he said.
Tulfo said people flocked to DSWD offices in the NCR and other regions despite that they announced that there will be six Saturdays to distribute the assistance.
He said many were not accommodated due to the high number of people who went to DSWD offices.
According to him, the DSWD will have a memorandum of agreement with the Department of the Interior and Local Government for LGUs to help in the distribution of the assistance. The distribution will be supervised by DSWD employees.
According to a Facebook post by the DSWD-National Capital Region office, the DSWD Educational Assistance is intended for Student-in-Crisis belonging to the following:
- Breadwinners
- Working students
- Orphaned/abandoned and/or now living with relatives
- Children of Solo Parents
- Children of unemployed parents
- Children of DISTRESSED Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)
- Children of Persons with Disability in Crisis
- Children of former rebels or persons deprived of liberty
- Children of people living with HIV or those living with parents with HIV
- Victims of abuse/displacement
- Victims of crisis due to human-induced or natural calamities
- Students taking technical or vocational courses
It said the number of beneficiaries of the DSWD education assistance is limited.