DSWS wants bigger budget, more people

CEBU, Philippines - The head of the Department of Social Welfare and Services in Cebu City will recommend to Mayor Michael Rama for the hiring of 44 additional social workers to bring the number of her personnel up to 100 in all and allow them to fully serve the public.

DSWS head Ester Concha is also set to ask the mayor, through the Local Finance Committee, to raise the existing annual budget of her office from P215 million to P235 million for 2014.

She could not give the estimated amount for the personal services of her office if her request for additional employees would be granted, but at present the DSWS budget for personal services or salaries and other benefits is P17.9 million.

Records show that at present the DSWS has 56 employees; 31 of them are regulars while the rest are casuals. They are tasked to immediately assist the victims of various calamities in the city.

Concha said her office has already spent P19.1 million assisting the victims of 31 different calamities by giving food, construction materials and other kinds of assistance to the concerned families.

The DSWS has also spent P1.5 million in financial assistance to 302 “clients” who were assisted by the city to go back to their respective provinces in line with the city’s Balik Probinsya program.

According to Concha her office has helped in the processing of the payroll of the 59,285 senior citizens who were supposed to receive their initial P4,000 cash assistance from the city last March 25 and 26, but 2,769 of them failed to claim their cash aid.

Concha said there was a proposal from the Senior Citizens Council to have a moratorium in the registration of senior citizens while the city looks into the records of elderly persons in Cebu City.  (FREEMAN)