DSWD fully supports inter-agency efforts to fight poverty through Kilos Sambayanan

As one of the lead agencies of the Human Development and Poverty Reduction (HDPR) Cluster of the cabinet of Rodrigo R. Duterte administration, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is set to participate in the launch of the Kilos SAMBAYANAN (Kilos para sa Sampung Batayang Pangangailangan) flagship campaign to call attention to the struggles of the Filipino people against poverty. The campaign which highlights the government’s efforts to provide for the 10 basic needs of the Filipino people will be formally launched this coming Saturday, July 16, 2017, in Delpan, Tondo.

The DSWD and other agencies under the HDPR cluster – namely the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of Education (DepEd), the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), and the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC).

The NAPC has earlier identified the ten basic needs of the Filipino people — food, land reform, water, shelter, work and national industrialization, healthcare, education, social protection, healthy environment, peace, and people’s participation. Each government agency under the HDPR cluster has been tasked to come up with their own commitment to provide for the said needs.

DSWD Sec. Judy M. Taguiwalo said that there is a need for convergence of all the programs of government agencies that provide direct social services to the Filipino people. She expressed an appeal to all government agencies to give their commitment to efforts to address poverty and help impoverished Filipinos.

“After all, the ultimate aim of government should always be to help the greatest number of Filipinos improve the quality of their lives and ensure that their basic needs are met. We have to constantly gauge the impact of government programs on the lives of the poor and improve the delivery of social services that have both immediate and long-term impact on their well-being and survival,” she said.

Sec. Taguiwalo said that the DSWD is now focused on popularizing information on the Lingap sa Masa program – or the free medicine program which is directly being funded by the Office of the President. Pres. Duterte has transferred P1 billion to the coffers of the DSWD to implement the program.

Since the program was first implemented in March this year, the DSWD now has a total of 11 partner-public hospitals which will facilitate the provision of free medicine to indigent patients. The first hospitals to implement the program are the Philippine General Hospital for NCR; Jose B. Lingad Memorial Hospital in San Fernando City, Pampanga for Central Luzon; Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo City for Western Visayas; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City for Central Visayas; and Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City and Davao Regional Hospital in Tagum City, both for the Davao Region.

Beginning August 1, Lingap sa Masa will be implemented in the Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital, East Avenue Medical Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, Philippine Children’s Medical Hospital, and San Lazaro Hospital.

On Sunday, various activities will be conducted that aim to introduce the government’s various programs and services to the Filipino people. There will be an information caravan, forum, cultural performances, information kiosks, and medical-dental services for residents of the surrounding Tondo community. #

DSWD Website

http://www.dswd.gov.ph/

links:

http://www.dswd.gov.ph/dswd-fully-supports-inter-agency-efforts-to-fight-poverty-through-kilos-sambayanan/