CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – City councilors have asked the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Region 10 (Northern Mindanao) to create a single database of the poorest of the poor residents here to ensure that all eligible beneficiaries would receive educational assistance.

During their session on Monday, Sept. 12, city council Pro Tempore Councilor Edgar Cabanlas asked DSWD-10 Director Ramel Jamen, who was

present in the session, said the agency should have no other database for easier distribution.

“It should be a synchronized database. One database for everybody,” said Cabanlas whose suggestion was backed by Councilor John Michael Seno.

Seno suggested that the DSWD use the list of poorest of the poor residents to ensure that all eligible recipients, especially those from hinterlands barangays, would receive educational assistance.

He also asked the DSWD-10 to formulate guidelines to identify the eligible beneficiaries without the assessment and discretion of social workers to prevent bias.

“Sorry if I’m wrong about this, but we are all human and sometimes we have biases. What if those social workers have relatives who have applied?” Seno said.

City council presiding officer, Vice Mayor Jocelyn Rodriguez, emphasized “data” as the bottom line of the problem, citing past experiences of assistance distribution such as Social Amelioration Program (SAP).

Rodriguez said DSWD never learned their lesson and asked the agency to create their own database and not to depend on that of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

We need the data so that if we have events like this (educational assistance) or there are untoward incidents would happen, we are ready. So when will that be? she said.

Due to the problem with the database, the Vice Mayor believes that there are still many eligible beneficiaries who have not received educational assistance, particularly in the hinterland barangays.

Rodriguez challenged DSWD-10 to provide a list to the city council on the number of residents from hinterland barangays who have received the financial aid.

In response, Jamen said they already proposed in an inter-agency meeting that all surveys from different government agencies will be turned over to PSA in order to have one basis in assistance distribution.

This includes the development of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) which also aims to hasten the distribution of government assistance to the target beneficiaries.

Assessment and discretion of social workers, he said

is also necessary due to limited funds of the government and to ensure that the assistance would be given to the eligible recipients.

“Since before, the government has limited funds and the demand is high. That is why the DSWD is mandated to prioritize whoever is the poorest of the poor,” Jamen said.