PBBM has raised the quality of the help for the poor, from “dole out” to “dignified giving.”

Mabuhay ang “Bagong Pilipinas at Bagong Pilipino!” Long live the New Philippines and the New Filipino as President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., continues his relentless and tireless efforts to improve the economic and social well-being of every Filipino in all parts of the country.

The entry last Friday, 12 January, as members of the Cabinet of the Honorable House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto as Secretary of Finance, along with Frederick Go as the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs will add new glitter to the New Philippines, and motivate and inspire the New Filipino.

Recto and Go took their respective oaths of office at Malacañang, administered by President Marcos Jr.

Recto’s “wealth of experience” in overseeing economic growth, as well as in infrastructure, health care, and education, plus Go’s fruitful years across many ventures will go a long way in helping the Marcos administration accomplish its overall goals under plans, programs and projects of the national and local governments and government-owned and controlled corporations.

We join President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as he expresses his gratitude to former Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno “for his excellent performance in the agency” and as he extends his “warm wishes for his return to the Central Bank as a Member of the Monetary Board.

Also on 12 January, the Department of Social Welfare and Development celebrated its the 73rd anniversary, during which President Marcos said:

“Remember: welfare must come with the ways that truly empower recipients so that they will be armed with the skills and the tools that will make self-liberation possible; help which will tide them over, to help them get back on their feet, not consigning them to a life of dependency, because aid that emancipates a human being is the kind of dignified giving that government should practice and that this government is practicing.”

The President congratulated Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian for all the achievements of the department. “I view with great admiration the working men and women of your agency,” he said.

“Here is the place, the headquarters of our war against poverty. Never have so many been helped by so few,” he paraphrased the wartime statement of Churchill.

“And the state of being outnumbered but never outfought is a proud DSWD tradition that we took from the military and continue until today with the efforts of the department,” the President added.

“For example,” he said, “one DSWD worker serves about one thousand clients; this is one agency that has too much on its plate with too few plantilla positions.”

“Thanks to Congress, they hiked your budget this year to P245 billion, from last year’s P196.5 billion.”

The President emphasized that in 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) and senior pensions alone, just to mention two sectors, DSWD will be running a payroll operation bigger than that of the government in terms of payees. 

The 4Ps would need P106 billion for more than four million families.

We have to add to this P49.8 billion for the social pensions of 4.085 million seniors, including the super seniors and centenarians, like Manong JPE (Juan Ponce Enrile), whose birthday is next month, on Valentine’s, when he will be 100 years old and qualified to receive the benefits, he will be entitled to from the DSWD.

The DSWD also extends its food catering operation to serve tens of millions of hot meals to 2.027 million preschool children at a cost of P4.1 billion.

“Indeed, your activities cover from womb to tomb, from helping the homeless to sheltering victims of calamities, saving lives and providing livelihoods, helping the sick, keeping mothers and their children healthy,” said the President.       

(To be continued)