In an effort to ensure the proper implementation of the Social Amelioration Programs (SAP) and respond to the rocketing number of concerns and complaints regarding the program, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office Caraga activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and Grievance Redress System (GRS) at the Regional Office in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte.
Since the first week of April, the DSWD FO Caraga has already set up an operations center to oversee the whole implementation of the program in the region. The EOC, being the core of the program implementation, is primarily accountable for the information, command, planning, and finance function of the SAP.
Specifically, the EOC is tasked to gather, consolidate, verify information, and coordinate with partners, specifically the Local Government Units in line with the SAP, such as the registry of beneficiaries, data on the number of family beneficiaries, status of clients withdrawn from the list, waitlisted, unpaid, or unserved, and the schedule of subsidy releases.
In addition, the EOC also launched the Grievance Redress System (GRS) to accommodate the rising concerns of families who are deemed to be eligible but have not been included on the final list of beneficiaries of the Emergency Subsidy Program (ESP).
Calls and text hotlines have been put in place to provide the clients with a platform to raise their issues, queries, and complaints.
Also, since President Rodrigo R. Duterte made his first announcement of the SAP during the last week of March, multiple inquiries and matters have already been raised by the public through DSWD Caraga – the official Facebook page of the field office. These questions are addressed by the Social Marketing Section, the focal section managing DSWD Caraga and the leading team for information dissemination and public announcement on SAP.
The EOC, including the GRS, operates 24/7 and monitors daily the activities conducted on the field in light of the SAP. The EOC is also the responsible unit in providing the DSWD Central Office of the updates on the implementation of the social amelioration. Based on Section 12 of the Omnibus Guidelines, grievances associated with the SAP implementation shall be tracked by the DSWD Central Office – Information and Communications Technology Management Service (DSWD – CO ICTMS).
DSWD FO Caraga sees to it that every query and complaint of the public is heard and responded by the agency – fulfilling to its core value of delivering the following: “Maagap at Mapagkalingag Serbisyo”, “Serbisyong Walang Puwang sa Katiwalian”, and “Patas na Pagtrato sa Komunidad”.
As of 12:00 NN of April 29, a total of 73 local government units (LGUs) or 100% have already carried out the payout to a total of 245,124 beneficiaries served amounting to ₱1,225,620,000.00 or a total of 80.34%. There are also 179,059 Pantawid Pamilya (4Ps) beneficiaries served, amounting to Php653,565,350.00.
Should you have any concerns, complaints, and information on families who received the ESP but are ineligible, you may contact the following hotline numbers:
- 0926 – 914 – 9200
- 0956 – 183 – 5541
- 0951 – 382 – 7657
- 0951 – 382 – 7658
UPDATE: As of 12:00 NN of May 4, a total of 73 local government units (LGUs) or 100% have already carried out the payout to a total of 303,223 beneficiaries served amounting to ₱1,516,115,000.00 or a total of 99.39%. There are also 182,482 Pantawid Pamilya (4Ps) beneficiaries served – wherein a total of 2,181 households were paid through the DSWD Special Disbursing Officers (SDO) in 20 cities/municipalities, amounting to ₱694,303,000.00. Further, 7 LGUs have already submitted their respective liquidation reports to the DSWD Field Office Caraga.
(Social Marketing Section/DSWD Field Office Caraga)
