Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the lead government agency in social protection, continues to give “ayuda” or aid through its various programs such as the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) and the Ayuda para sa mga Kapos and Kita (AKAP), Secretary Rex Gatchalian said on Monday.
“As the government’s lead agency for social protection, our social workers, which we aptly call Angels in Red Vests, are always working to render assistance to the vulnerable, marginalized and those undergoing crisis. Our social workers are living by example the DSWD’s motto: Maagap at Mapagkalingang Serbisyo,” Gatchalian said.
The AICS program benefit families and individuals who are economically disadvantaged, vulnerable, or part of the informal sector who are facing crisis situations as determined by the assessment of social workers.
Meanwhile, AKAP provides financial aid to minimum wage earners falling under the low-income category, who are severely affected by rising inflation. Farmers and fisherfolk whose livelihoods have been affected by the El Niño and oil spill, respectively, have also benefitted from AKAP.
The DSWD said the assistance in the form of family food packs (FFPs), which are prepositioned in warehouses across the regions, and Emergency Cash Transfer (ECT) are immediately given to families and individuals affected by natural disasters such typhoons and flooding.
“They are extended by the DSWD on a targeted and organized manner to identified and vetted victims of calamities to help them get back on their feet,” Gatchalian said.
The DSWD chief stressed that it is always better to have a surplus of ayuda than a shortage of it “because if the latter happens, then government is running the most alarming of all deficits, and that is the deficit of compassion.”
“There is no politics in the granting of aid, the only requirement is that it is truly needed by those in difficult circumstances,” he pointed out. (PR)