Gatchalian hurdles CA confirmation as DSWD chief

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Appointments (CA) has confirmed the ad interim appointment of Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian, who vowed to put equal emphasis on the development side of the department to break the chain or cycle of poverty in the country.

With the confirmation of the DSWD chief, only three Cabinet secretaries – for health, defense and agriculture – have yet to get the approval of the CA.

Gatchalian vowed to meet the target of President Marcos to bring down the rate of poverty to single digit.

Since Gatchalian was a House member when President Marcos appointed him to the DSWD, Rep. LRay Villafuerte manifested during the hearing that the whole of the House contingent would no longer ask questions.

Gatchalian said he would like to put equal thrust on the development side of the department.

“Yes, social welfare is very important. But equally as important is the development programs of the department because these development programs will break the chain of poverty or cycle of poverty,” he said.

Gatchalian gave assurance that the implementation of DSWD programs for the poor would be efficient and effective, including the Solo Parents Act and the Pantawid ng Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

Sen. Grace Poe vouched for the integrity of Gatchalian, who she said served as her spokesman in 2016.

“This 25-member body (CA) is not his constituency. It would be the 14 million poor Filipinos for whom the DSWD can provide a leg-up. He must also feed 1.68 million malnourished children; administer pensions to 3.3 million indigent senior citizens and distribute cash to 8.3 million Pantawid beneficiaries and individuals in crisis. Plus the victims of disasters, displacement and trafficking,” Poe said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda said the DSWD plays a crucial role in the provision of social services and programs.

“I believe Rex Gatchalian has the skills, the competence and the heart for this position. He has an impressive track record in public service. He has served nine years as Valenzuela’s local chief executive and six years as district representative,” Legarda said.

Gatchalian said the department wanted to strengthen existing flagship programs in the development side of stability such as the 4Ps.

“We want to look into ways now that 4Ps beneficiaries are graduating, we want to make sure that they don’t slip back to poverty. That’s why we want to strengthen our sustainable livelihood program,” he said.

Gatchalian vowed to look at the community-driven development of KALAHI-CIDSS, making sure the heart of these communities are reached by development.

“We want to also make sure that we invest in human capital. Yes, we all want to end poverty, but you know that our end-poverty program is a long game, and there are low-lying fruits like ending hunger that we want to look at, because these are investments in human capital that we can do immediately.”

He said he also wants to bring back dignity in getting social welfare by streamlining the requirements and going digital.

“The DSWD would also want to look at expanding the base so that we can attract more social workers. There is a dearth of social workers in this country,” he said.

“We want to make sure that in terms of development in disaster preparedness, we want to lean on existing capacities of the private sector so that we don’t exhaust government resources and make sure our country is disaster prepared,” Gatchalian said.

He said he would ask for an increase in the budget for the supplementary feeding program as the current budget is only P21 per enrolled child.

Gatchalian said he would propose to increase the budget to P27 per child. – Sheila Crisostomo