DSWD eyes sale of assets to address P400-M deficit

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is eyeing the possible sale of some of their land assets to meet the P400 million budget shortfall they expect next year.

Secretary Corazon "Dinky" Soliman said that the move was being considered after the Department of Budget and Management only approved a P2.1 billion budget for the DSWD for 2003 from the P2.5 billion they originally asked for.

Soliman said that the DSWD was now looking into the sale of its prime landholdings in Gastambide in Sampaloc, and in Welfareville, Mandaluyong, among others.

She explained that the asset sale was suggested by Malacañang.

The social welfare chief said that the DSWD will be embarking on several vital poverty alleviation projects next year and that financial constraints would hamper their implementation.

One of the important projects to be undertaken by the DSWD is the Kapitbisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) program, which involves the distribution of financial grants to selected barangays of fifth and sixth class municipalities all over the country. — Rainier Allan Ronda