Rex Gatchalian: DSWD accommodated all assistance requests from OVP

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) accommodated all requests for assistance from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and an exchange of text messages between the point persons of the two agencies would prove it, Secretary Rex Gatchalian said Monday.

The DSWD chief made the remark when asked about Vice President Sara Duterte's earlier claim that the agency is politicizing the government's assistance program.

Gatchalian said their investigation showed that both the point persons of the DSWD and the OVP could not identify the instance which would prove Duterte's allegation.

"With me is Assistant Secretary Ulysses Aguilar, he's the one that handles the referrals from the Office of the Vice President. Agad-agad kinausap niya 'yung handling officer sa kabila, si Director Norman...Kasi tinanong namin sa kanya ano ba 'yung issue para alam namin ano 'yung titingnan," he said during the Senate finance subcommittee's deliberation of the DSWD and its attached agencies' proposed P229.8 billion budget for 2025

(He immediately talked to the handling officer of the OVP, Director Norman. We asked him what the issue was so we could look into it.)

"In fact, ang sabi niya wala rin ho siyang alam kasi lahat naman ng referral daw nila ay malugod namin tinatanggap. We can furnish you the screenshots but we have to ask permission of Director Norman if he will also consent," he added.

(He told us that he has no idea because all of their referrals were accomodated by the DSWD.)

Gatchalian also mentioned a plaque of recognition that the OVP has given to the DSWD, which, he said, acknowledged them as a "valued partner."

"We'll also submit to the committee a copy of a plaque that we just received, middle part of this year from the OVP saying nga that we are a valued partner, that we would always help their referrals. Meron din ho kaming parangal din doon and we'd gladly submit it to the committee as well," he said.

Senator Imee Marcos, the chairperson of the subcommittee and the one who raised the issue, said they will put that on record "to put the matter at rest and be clarified with the concern."

The subcommittee's approval of the DSWD budget has been deferred pending the agency's submission of reports on other issues. —AOL, GMA Integrated News