The Department of Social Welfare and Development provided various services to cater to the needs of the vulnerable and underprivileged residents from the City of Manila’s six congressional districts during the kick-off rally for the Bagong Pilipinas campaign at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park last Sunday, 28 January.

“This is DSWD’s way of bringing prompt government service closer to the people which is in keeping with the objectives of the Bagong Pilipinas campaign,” DSWD Assistant Secretary for Strategic Communications Romel Lopez, who is also the agency’s spokesperson, said.

As part of its participation to the Serbisyo Fair which was one of the highlights of the kick-off, the DSWD-National Capital Region Field Office distributed cash aid amounting to P2,000 each to some 15,000 eligible beneficiaries under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation program.

“To ensure that the beneficiaries who received assistance were qualified, they were cross-matched with the existing DSWD database and underwent deduplication process. After the cross-matching, the identified beneficiaries were assessed by personnel of the DSWD-NCR to further determine if they are qualified to receive the cash assistance,” the DSWD spokesperson said.

Aside from the cash assistance, the NCR Field Office also distributed family food packs to some 5,000 beneficiaries who were affected by various fire incidents in Metro Manila.

A mobile kitchen was also set-up by the NCR Field Office at its designated booth area to provide free arroz caldo to participants.

Officials and personnel of the DSWD-Central and NCR Offices were also at the venue to demonstrate their support to the administration’s campaign for a better government.

“Under the Bagong Pilipinas brand of governance, the DSWD aims to support the Marcos administration in providing social welfare programs and services to lower the poverty rate of the country to a single digit,” Lopez said.

Bagong Pilipinas is a campaign that serves as the Marcos administration’s brand of governance and leadership characterized by “principled, accountable and dependable government reinforced by unified institutions of society.”

During his speech, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said the Bagong Pilipinas concept was crafted based on the Philippine Development Plan of 2023 to 2028, the blueprint that will be the basis in the government’s development planning for the next six years.

“Bagong Pilipinas is addressed to all government officials and employees, and citizens of this country. It is an invitation to all of us to think about being a Filipino and view the nation from a renewed perspective. It is a call for transformation. The transformation of our idea of being a Filipino, and the transformation of our economy, of governance, of society,” the President said.