DSWD-6 monitors 12 ‘epal’ candidates Montesa

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development-6 is currently monitoring 12 ‘epal’ politicians in Western Visayas who have been habitually claiming the department’s pro-poor programs particularly the Pantawid Pamilya program as their own.

‘Epal politicians’ refer to those who are attention-hungry by posting their names and faces in public places or claim government-funded projects as theirs.

DSWD-6’s regional monitoring and evaluation officer Beverly Salazar said the names of these politicians were reported to them by 4Ps beneficiaries from the provinces of Iloilo, Aklan, Capiz, Negros Occidental and Guimaras.

Salazar however refused to reveal the names of these politicians to avoid jeopardizing the monitoring operations, but confirmed that she has the original copies of the letters sent by some of these politicians informing beneficiaries that the program was materialized through their efforts and initiatives.

“This is really a big ‘no.’ Politicians are not allowed to claim credit for the program, even during the cash distribution so that they will not use the activity for their politicking,” she said.

Since the DSWD-6 has no police power over these abusive politicians, Salazar said the DSWD will make a documentation report and send it to the department’s grievance committee, which will in turn forward it to the central office in Manila.

The DSWD central office will send the report to the DILG or the Comelec for further action. “That’s the least we could do to prevent ‘epals’ and to protect our field workers against possible threats too,” said Salazar.

In a related development, DSWD-6 information officer May Rago-Castillo reiterated that only the agency can delist 4Ps or conditional cash transfer (CCT) beneficiaries if they violate any of the conditions, while the local executives are only partners in the execution of the program and thus have no authority to delist.

Castillo said the reasons for delisting include non-compliance of conditions, in which the beneficiary no longer has a child, zero to 17 years of age, and already has a job with an income of P10,000 and above per month.

As of February 20 this year, a total of 11,101 ‘undeserving’ households in the region were delisted, she said, adding that the DSWD-6 now has a total of 295,127 beneficiaries. (FREEMAN)