DSWD: Permit needed for solicitation activities

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has reminded the public they must apply for a permit before holding solicitation activities, a requirement that the agency's former chief called to suspend amid the COVID-19 crisis.

In a public advisory, the DSWD said that entities wishing to conduct solicitation activities should apply for a permit and pay the processing fee—online, due to the enhanced community quarantine, or at any LandBank branch office for Metro Manila payments.

The DSWD said Presidential Decree No. 1564, or the Solicitation Permit Law, mandates them to regulate the solicitation of donations and receiving of contributions for charity or public welfare, except those by the Sangguniang Bayan and organizations or agencies authorized by law to hold fundraising campaigns for this purpose.

The department said it had learned that "various persons and organizations are allegedly conducting unauthorized public solicitation activities." Posted on its Facebook page, the advisory now appears to have been deleted.

While legal, the measure is "definitely not" "in consonance with the huge humanitarian demands to address the COVID-19 pandemic," said former DSWD secretary Judy Taguiwalo.

"We are under emergency situation, allow the private sector including organizations and individuals to help! Suspend the implementation of the registration requirement for solicitation under the present COVID crisis," she said in a public Facebook post.

Senator Risa Hontiveros urged the DSWD to simplify the requirements and remove the fee.

I recognize na kailangang siguraduhin na walang nananamantala sa panahon ng krisis. Pero sana gawin ng DSWD mas simple ang requirements at walang bayad. Kundi, maraming tulong ang pwedeng matigil.

We need to cut red tape ngayong krisis & deliver aid to those who need it ASAP. pic.twitter.com/MRjboq3m7C

— risa hontiveros (@risahontiveros) April 16, 2020

"I recognize na kailangang siguraduhin na walang nananamantala sa panahon ng krisis. Pero sana gawin ng DSWD mas simple ang requirements at walang bayad. Kundi, maraming tulong ang pwedeng matigil," she said in a tweet.

"We need to cut red tape ngayong krisis & deliver aid to those who need it ASAP," the senator said.

Bayan Muna Representative Eufemia Cullamat said this requirement is an added burden to the people meaning to help.

"Nasa gitna tayo ng krisis. Wag na nating pahirapan pa sa burukratikong proseso. Nagugutom na ang mga tao, kailangan ng agarang aksyon, at dapat tayong magpasalamat sa mga kapwa nating nagkukusang tumulong sa abot ng kanilang makakaya," she said in a video message.

In response to the criticism, DSWD Undersecretary Camilo Gudmalin said the department intends to ensure that solicitations are "properly done" and that the raised funds are given to the intended beneficiaries.

"We need to know especially from DSWD where are the areas that they need to serve, where are the areas that they need to solicit so that we'll be able to determine and monitor whether in fact these solicitations was used on its intended purpose," the official said in a livestreamed briefing.

— Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/BM, GMA News