In line with the 2013 election that focuses on both national and local position, the Department of Social Welfare and Development launches an ANTI-EPAL campaign that started from Januaryt and will continue until the end of May. The campaign aims to protect DSWD’s beneficiaries for the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer (MCCT) or popularly known as the Pangtawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) that benefits 79 provinces covering 1,261 municipalities and 138 key cities in all 17 regions nationwide with the total of more than 3 million registered households as June 2012.
The ANTI-EPAL campaign of DSWD will eliminate the activities of the running politicians in their municipalities to use the 4Ps to ride on with the government projects and use it in their favor. Up to date, DSWD according to Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman they already received several reports regarding politicians intervening in the collection and threatening the beneficiaries that they will be taking their names out of the list of they will not vote for him or her on the election. Sec. Soliman affirms that these politicians don’t have the power to do that it was only the DSWD and the beneficiary itself has the right to take out their names and they can send their complains via DSWD, local government offices or COMELEC to report this kind of harassment and anomalies concerning their municipalities.
Sec. Soliman mentioned that during the time of the late Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo that they already released a circular memorandum addressing “epal” incidents that politicians who are putting their photos on tarps and banners in all government projects including the 4Ps activities. The DSWD Secretary affirms that no one is in debt to any politicians because it is the project of the national government for them alone. And in regards to the Php 10M budget for the said Anti-Epal campaign of DSWD, Sec. Soliman explains that they will be using it to cover national government which they will rely on popular media including print, radio and TV advertising and social media where as they compete on politicians who have more budget to put their faces on media.
Meanwhile, the 4Ps aims to support poor families as social assistance that provide cash assistance to the poor to alleviate their immediate need and social development that will help break the intergenerational poverty cycle through investments in human capital. Families selected to be beneficiaries of the 4Ps undergo series of interview, screening and on going monitoring from DSWD to see their growth and if they are still fit to be their beneficiary.
Aside from filling complains to LGUs and COMELEC offices, you can also send your reports to DSWD #AntiEpal hotline 0918-912-2813. And to know more about the Pangtawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program visit http://pantawid.dswd.gov.ph.
