The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Tuesday (August 22) welcomed the results of the Tugon Ng Masa survey, commissioned by the think tank OCTA Research, that showed the social protection agency as among the most trusted and top performing agencies for the second quarter this year.

Based on the poll results survey conducted from July 22 to 26 and released on Monday (August 21), the DSWD and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) were the two most trusted government agencies with 78 percent trust rating, followed by the Department of Health (DoH), with 77 percent; Department of Education (DepEd), 75 percent; and the Philippine National Police (PNP) 74 percent.

DSWD Assistant Secretary Romel Lopez thanked the Filipino people for their continuing trust and confidence in the Department, through its various programs that give direct service to poor families and vulnerable sectors.

“On behalf of Secretary Rex Gatchalian and the whole DSWD family, I would like to extend our gratitude to the Filipino people for their continued confidence and trust in the Department,” Asst. Sec. Lopez, who is also the DSWD spokesperson, said.

The five agencies also topped the list of 25 government agencies in terms of performance ratings, with at least three-fourths of the 1,200 respondents saying they were satisfied with their performance. Their ratings were in the following order: CHEd, 80 percent; DepEd, 79 percent; PNP, 76 percent; DOH, 75 percent; and DSWD, 73 percent.

“We in the DSWD are really humbled. We owe this high rating to our hardworking and dedicated staff and partners who continue to ensure that we provide the best quality service to our Kababayans in need,” Asst. Sec. Lopez pointed out.

“We will use this survey result as a source of inspiration to strengthen and improve our delivery of services and programs under the leadership of Secretary Gatchalian,” the DSWD spokesperson added.

The PAHAYAG 2023 second quarter survey also showed the DSWD as among the top trusted government agencies with a 65 percent approval rating.

About 1,500 respondents across the country participated in the poll which was conducted from June 8 to 12 by PAHAYAG, an independent and non-commissioned survey conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia Inc.

The DSWD continues to implement big-ticket programs that address poverty and hunger. These are the flagship projects such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP), the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services Kalahi-CIDSS), the Assistance for Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) and the Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens, among others.

The latest DSWD flagship project is the Food Stamp Program (FSP), which aims to provide food augmentation to the bottom one million households from Listahanan 3, who belong to the food poor criteria as defined by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The Food Stamp Program has been piloted in Tondo, Manila in July with President Ferdinand R. Marcos and Vice President Sara Z. Duterte gracing the DSWD-led launch.

Five pilot sites have been identified with “different geopolitical characteristics.” These include the selected cities and municipalities in the National Capital Region, Caraga Region and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The targeted pilots sites are geographically isolated regions, urban poor settings, calamity-stricken areas, and rural poor areas.

“We have to do the pilot at 3,000 families; 300,000 hopefully next year sa first run; another 300,000 right after and then hopefully, reach the magic number of one million in the succeeding year,” Secretary Gatchalian said in an earlier interview.

Target beneficiaries or those families whose income does not go beyond P8,000 a month will be given electronic benefit card or ‘tap cards’ which will be loaded with food credits amounting to P3,000.#