Latest news with #RexGatchalian
GMA Network
4 days ago
- Health
- GMA Network
DSWD: Around 1.5 million learners to benefit from expanded feeding program
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Tuesday said around 1.5 million learners would benefit from the government's expanded feeding program, which will begin in July. ''Para sa 2025, magsisimula na po ang supplemental feeding program. Ang nakalaan na pondo ho diyan ay halos P5.1 billion, kulang-kulang 1.5 million na mga naka-enroll sa mga child development center ang makakatanggap ng araw-araw na pagkain for a 120 days,'' Gatchalian said during a Palace press briefing. (For 2025, the implementation of the supplemental feeding program will start. The allocated fund is worth P5.1 billion, wherein more or less 1.5 million learners enrolled in the child development centers would be given food for 120 days.) ''These are hot meals na pini-prepare sa mga centers mismo or sa mga local government units,'' he added. (These are hot meals being prepared in centers or in local government units.) In implementing the supplemental feeding program, the DSWD earlier said that the children's weight and height are being measured at the start and after the completion of the feeding program and consistently monitored throughout the feeding sessions. The parents of the children are also involved in the preparation of the meals using affordable, nutritious, and indigenous ingredients, according to the DSWD. The program is implemented yearly after it was institutionalized in 2018 by Republic Act No. 11037, also known as the 'Masustansiyang Pagkain Para sa Batang Pilipino Act.' —VAL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
07-06-2025
- Climate
- GMA Network
DSWD: 3M boxes of family food packs prepositioned for possible storm
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Saturday said its Disaster Response Command Center (DRCC) is now on blue alert status as it monitors the development of the low pressure area (LPA) spotted east of Guiuan, Eastern Visayas. In line with this, the DSWD said it has prepositioned three million boxes of family food packs (FFPs), with over 360,000 non-food items, in the different hubs, spokes, and last miles across the country, in line with the directive of Secretary Rex Gatchalian. 'Following the order from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), DSWD's DRCC is now fully activated to monitor and prepare for any possible effects of the weather disturbance,' said Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao of the DSWD's Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG). Apart from the prepositioned relief items, response teams in the different DSWD Field Offices are on standby and in close coordination with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), NDRRMC, and local government units (LGUs), according to the agency. Even during the celebration of Eid'l Adha, the DSWD said its Quick Response Team (QRT) held a duty briefing and agency personnel continue their work to ensure that timely help will reach communities when needed. 'Our duty to serve does not pause for holidays. Gaya nga ng laging sinasabi ni Secretary Gatchalian, 365 days, hindi tumitigil ang disaster preparation ng DSWD. We remain on alert to make sure that our fellow Filipinos, especially the vulnerable, are safe and supported during times of uncertainty,' DSWD spokesperson Dumlao said. The DSWD reminded the public to stay alert and monitor periodic announcements from local authorities. PAGASA said early Saturday morning that there was still a "medium" chance for the LPA off the Catanduanes coast to develop into a tropical depression. At 3 a.m., the LPA was located 240 kilometers east of Virac, Catanduanes, bringing cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms to the Bicol Region, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Caraga, Davao Region, Aurora, and Quezon. The NDRRMC raised the Operations Center alert status to blue at 3 p.m. Friday in response to the said LPA. According to a statement on Friday, NDRRMC is aiming to mitigate the impact of widespread rains, flooding, and rain-induced landslides caused by the LPA and the Southwest Monsoon. All Regional and Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils (R/LDRRMCs), as well as OCD Regional Offices, have been instructed to implement their minimum preparedness checklists, which include the activation of several response teams, the preparation of emergency resources, and the establishment of communication systems. Officials from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and Philippine National Police (PNP) will also be mandated to render duty for immediate response. —Ted Cordero/KG, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
03-06-2025
- Business
- GMA Network
DA to supply P20/kilo of rice to DSWD-listed retailers — Sec. Gatchalian
The Department of Agriculture will supply P20 per kilo of rice to accredited retailers of the Department of Social Welfare and Development for their food program, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said Tuesday. At a Palace press briefing, Gatchalian said those classified as ''food poor'' beneficiaries usually avail food commodities from DSWD-registered or accredited retailers. Amid the government's P20 per kilo of rice program, Gatchalian said the DA would provide rice to these listed retailers. ''Remember 'yung mga food poor natin, nag-a-avail sila sa mga accredited retailers, normally mga Kadiwa ng Pangulo, mga maliliit na agriculture coops, mga MSMEs... 'yan 'yung isa pong benepisyo ng programa na 'to eh, natutulungan 'yung local economy kasi doon rin bumibili 'yung mga food poor natin na benepisyaryo,'' Gatchalian said. (Remember for our food poor, they can avail from accredited retailers such as the Kadiwa ng Pangulo, small agriculture cooperatives and MSMES... that's one of the benefits of this program, they can also help the local economy because those food poor beneficiaries usually buy from them.) ''Ang hiningi sa amin ng Department of Agriculture 'yung listahan ng mga retailer para puwede nilang supplyan noong P20/kilo na bigas. Kasi kung tatandaan niyo 'yung food credit tatlong libo 'yun, so kung bumaba 'yung cost ng mga bilihin like 'yung rice, mas marami silang mabibili. Ngayon ginagamit na nila 'yung food credits na 'yun sa mga accredited retailers. Ang magiging bagong dimension nito, susupplyan ng Department of Agriculture 'yung mga retailers na 'yun noong murang bigas,'' he added. (The DA has asked a list of retailers from us so they can supply P20 per kilo of rice. If you remember, the food credit is worth P3,000 and if the cost of commodities would be lower, they can buy more food items. They use these food credits on accredited retailers. The new dimension is that the DA will supply cheaper rice to our accredited retailers.) The P20 per kilogram rice program is currently being rolled out to vulnerable sectors, and has been recently expanded to minimum wage earners. Households of qualified beneficiaries may purchase up to 30 kilograms of rice per month. The DSWD has since implemented the Walang Gutom Program, which is a partnership between the government and the private sector, with an aim to address involuntary hunger and to help minimize food wastage in the country. The program was in line with the country's commitment to realize the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 2 to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030. Hunger incidence Meanwhile, hunger incidence has dropped among the beneficiaries of the DSWD's Walang Gutom Program. ''Ang unang 300,000 na miyembro nitong program na ito ay nakakakain na ng maayos at unti-unti nang bumababa ang incidence ng kagutuman among the food poor,'' Gatchalian reiterated in the briefing. (The first 300,000 members of this program can eat sufficiently and the hunger incidence has since dropped among food poor.) To recall, the DSWD partnered with telecommunications company Globe and poll firm Social Weather Stations to address food insecurity in the country. A two-wave study was carried out to alleviate hunger among Filipino families. The survey result showed that the share of households experiencing hunger dropped by 4.1 percentage points from 48.7% in October 2024 to 44.6% in December of that year. The field work was conducted from October 7 to 18, 2024 and from December 1 to 10, 2024. It covered a total of 3,991 respondents from 33 provinces across the Philippines. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News
Straits Times
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Woman who crawled out of drain in the Philippines found, as a nation grapples with homelessness
Philippine Environment Minister Rex Gatchalian with 'Rose', a woman seen in viral images crawling out of a storm drain at a busy street corner. PHOTO: PHILIPPINE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT Woman who crawled out of drain in the Philippines found, as a nation grapples with homelessness A woman who was seen eerily crawling out of a storm drain in the Philippines has been found and gotten help from the government – her sad plight setting off a conversation about urban homelessness in one of South-east Asia's top growth performers. Acting on instructions from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, a team from the Social Welfare Ministry managed to track 'Rose' to a slum district and brought her to a 'processing centre' to 'undergo a thorough assessment and appropriate intervention'. Photos of Rose crawling out of a narrow drain at a busy street corner late in the afternoon on May 26 in Makati city – her dress and denim shorts caked with grime and her hair streaked with dirt and dried leaves – have gone viral. These images provoked both shock and amusement, with many drawing comparisons to a Japanese horror movie about a ghostly killer clawing her way out of a deep well. But they also triggered heated discussions about homeless people living in a subterranean world beneath gleaming financial districts like Makati, in a nation that has seen growth averaging at 5 to 7 per cent annually. Social Welfare Minister Rex Gatchalian presented Rose to reporters on May 29, and said the ministry was giving her 80,000 pesos (S$1,850) so she can start a sundry neighbourhood store. The ministry will also help her partner, who has welding skills but is jobless and also a vagrant , find a job, said Mr Gatchalian. That gesture, however, has been met with scepticism. 'But it's a whole community! Why choose a band-aid solution,' publisher and editor Chi Balmaceda Gutierrez said in a Facebook post. Ms Rocky Galman, who lives in Brisbane, said in the same thread: 'It's good to help people in need but you need to teach them first, secure their home and food, then give them the ability to work or set up a business. If you give them money without proper education/training, it will just go to waste.' Others even mocked the effort. 'Maybe I'll just go home to the Philippines, look for a sewage canal so I can get 80k to start a business,' said Ms Charise Penafiel, who is working in Hong Kong. A street photographer took these photos of a woman crawling out of a storm drain in Manila's main financial district. PHOTOS: WILLIAM ROBERTS/INSTAGRAM 'Botanical Garden' When she was presented by Mr Gatchalian to the media, Rose said she was not living inside the drain. She said she crawled inside the hole because she dropped a 'cutter blade' into it. But Makati police spokeswoman Captain Jenibeth Artista told GMA News vagrants like Rose were using the drain as an entry and exit point into sewage lines that act as a subterranean roadway. Makati police station chief Colonel Jean Dela Torre told reporters on May 28 that police found several items in the storm drain where Rose emerged from, including pliers and shirts. Mr William Roberts, the amateur street photographer who first took Rose's photos, said in an Instagram post that he found one end of this tunnel system along a creek that its users have dubbed the 'Botanical Garden'. He said he talked to one man he found emerging out of a sewer pipe, Jerwin. He said Jerwin told him: 'We don't live in the canals. We hide in them from the sun, from the police, sometimes to stash what little we have, sometimes to keep each other safe.' Mr Roberts said the story of Rose and Jerwin 'is about the cracks we cover up with concrete, the faces we ignore when they crawl out of the canal'. There are over three million homeless people across Metro Manila – a sprawling metropolis of 16 cities with a combined population of some 14 million. They live in shanties, makeshift pushcarts colloquially known as 'kariton', and wherever they can find shelter – by the side of the road, at cemeteries and apparently in storm drains and sewage tunnels. The Borgen Project – a US-based non-profit – said extreme poverty, domestic violence, human trafficking and natural disasters are the usual push factors behind homelessness in the Philippines. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Filipino Times
18-02-2025
- Filipino Times
DSWD digitalizes frontline services including accreditation of organizations, issuing travel permits for minors
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is streamlining some of its frontline services through digitalization to improve service delivery for Filipinos in need and simplify procedures for minors traveling abroad. During the 74th anniversary celebration of the DSWD on Tuesday, February 18, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the department's first order of business was to digitalize its regulatory services. 'We want to ensure simplicity in governance,' said Gatchalian in his speech during the anniversary event. The department has introduced its new portal called the DSWD-Harmonized Electronic License and Permit System (HELPS), which will simplify the process for the Registration, Licensing, and Accreditation (RLA) of Social Welfare and Development Agencies (SWDAs). 'It has been a nightmare to get your registration license to operate and accreditation permits that made it unwelcoming and difficult,' Gatchalian added. The DSWD chief noted that with the new system, organizations will go through 12 steps instead of 49 to be registered and accredited. The required documents have also been reduced from 50 to 11. 'Not only do we streamline the process of registration, licensing, and accreditation, including public solicitation and duty-exempt importation of donations, from six months to seven days,' he added. The DSWD also introduced its automated system for traveling minors without their parents. The Minors Traveling Abroad online system no longer requires parents or legal guardians to be physically present when applying for a travel permit. The new portal will provide the DSWD travel clearance at the convenience of its applicants. The document is required to ensure that children are protected from abuse and trafficking. 'The current system is not only time-consuming, it is also a risk because the child is not required physically,' said Gatchalian. The new system will also allow applicants to schedule interviews from the comfort of their homes during weekdays. Apart from digital services, Gatchalian announced that the department will simplify the process for social workers required to appear in court cases. An easier procedure for social workers to become marriage counselors will also be introduced in the coming days.
