LAWMAKERS yesterday found out that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has 10 undersecretaries and 20 assistant secretaries, more than that of the Department of Education (DepEd), which is a bigger department.
The information came from Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT) and confirmed by her former colleague, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian.
But Gatchalian told the House Committee on Appropriations’ hearing on the DSWD’s proposed P207 billion budget next year that the department is already working to streamline its workforce.
“We seek the indulgence of the Office of the President and the good congresswoman as we realign the functions of the department,” Gatchalian told the panel chaired by Rep. Zaldy Co (PL, Ako Bicol).
Gatchalian said the DSWD used to have 11 undersecretaries “but then again, we are streamlining and realigning our function to see to it that we are compliant with the provisions on the mandate of the department.”
Castro said the DSWD seems to have more executives than the DepEd when it would have been better if the money was used to hire more people on the ground, especially social workers.
“Nabigla lang ako na 10 Usecs and 20 Asecs (I was surprsied that there are 10 Usecs and 20 Asecs) as this is the only agency with such huge number of Asecs and Usecs. In terms of size, DepEd is a bigger agency,” Castro said.
Gatchalian said that among departments, DSWD has one of the largest bureaucracies to manage, with as many as 34,000 employees.
“And it also manages probably one of the largest pagdating sa (when it comes to) MOOE (maintenance and other operating expenses) and grants. And we run multiple programs in the department. Yes, we are working on streamlining,” he said.
Gatchalian also confirmed Castro’s statement that many of the DSWD’s employees are contractual workers, saying that around 65 percent of its workforce “are contract of service and we sympathize with them.”
“We continue to make representations with the Department of Budget and Management so that we can be accorded and allotted more regular positions so we can make sure those hardworking employees become regular employees of the department,” he said.
Gatchalian also told the budget hearing that only P12.7 billion (13 percent) out of the P94 billion budget for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) have so far been spent as the department continues to cleanse the list beneficiaries.
“Let me explain that this low utilization is a temporary state, since we are fast tracking the validation of existing households who are tagged non-poor by recent Listahanan 3. We hope to complete the assessment process by September 2023 to determine the eligibility of the households, whether they will be retained as beneficiaries or they will exit the program,” Gatchalian said.
However, Gatchalian clarified that the target number of 4Ps beneficiaries will remain at 4.4 million households even after the list is finalized by October or November because of the entry of new beneficiaries as replacements.
“By then, a total of P96.55 billion, inclusive of incremental operating cost, will be obligated, which will translate to 94 percent utilization rate,” he said.
