DSWD says govt social services program lacking

MANILA, Philippines - Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral on Tuesday admitted that the government's social services programs are not enough to address the rising incidence of hunger among Filipinos. Reacting to a Social Weather Stations survey results released Monday showing a rise in the number of hungry Filipino families, Cabral said while the government's poverty reduction and hunger mitigations are "good," they do not reach enough Filipinos. "Kulang ang ating social services, safety nets, at social protection services sa mga tao (Our social services are still found lacking (in) safety nets and social protection)," Cabral said in an interview over radio dzBB. "Napakaganda po ng mga programa natin. Ang pinag-uusapan natin ay scale, kung gano karaming tao ang naaabot nito...Maganda man ang programa, kung hindi critical mass ang maabot para matulungan, hindi ganon kalaki ang impact (Our programs are very good. What we're talking about is scale, how many people the programs reach...No matter how good the program is, if it does not reach a critical mass of people that need help, the impact will not be that big)," she said. Cabral said the current global economic crisis, as well as internal political conflicts, also contribute to the rising incidence of hunger. "Ang politika talagang makakadagdag ito sa kagutuman sa atin (Politics will really contribute to hunger here)," she said, as she called on the public to "work together" to help address the problem. On Monday, Malacañang likewise acknowledged that global financial meltdown has caused an economic downturn in the country during the past few months, causing hunger to reach a new peak nationwide. In a chance interview, Deputy Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo, however, tried to allay public fears, saying all of the government programs are in place to cushion the effects of economic recession. "The administration has strong anti-poverty and anti-hunger programs in place, but the past months have been difficult for us and the President has made it her personal mission to help the poorest among us survive this global financial meltdown," Fajardo said. "The DSWD, for one, will get a P5-billion budget increase to support its pro-poor programs, particularly the 4Ps- Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program- a flagship project of the president which provides subsidies to poor families and is expected to help 321,000 households," Fajardo added. The two government officials' remarks came after the SWS survey revealed that the national percentage of families experiencing hunger rose to nearly a quarter of all households. SWS said that December's 23.7 percent finding, or a figure almost equivalent to 4.3 million families, surpassed the previous record of 21.5 percent recorded in September 2007 and was 11 points higher than the 10-year average of 12.6 percent. The December 2008 score is also five points higher than the 18.4 percent posted last September. - GMANews.TV