“Resonant.”  Department of Social Work and Development Chief Dinky Soliman uses this word to describe the term Epal.  Matunog.  The term has become matunog.  Indeed.

The DSWD is thus using the term in its information campaign to insulate the Pantawid Pamilya or Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program during the election campaign period by intensifying communication efforts “ensuring that beneficiaries are accurately informed of the selection and delisting processes.”

On a budget of 10 million pesos—measly really, considering the need to reach out across the archipelago especially the far flung barangays where the program is most needed—the DSWD is campaigning against the reported pronouncements of “Epal” politicians who are threatening beneficiaries to be delisted from the program if they will not lend their electoral support.

In a meeting with bloggers the other day which I attended, the DSWD Chief clarified that it is only the DSWD that can delist a beneficiary if he or she is not following the ‘conditionalities’ of the program.  Such process follows a set procedure and the national office controls the list, not local politicians or bureaucrats.

Since the program began around 2008, the DSWD has in fact delisted about 50,000 beneficiaries from the program to clean its list and ensure that the only the truly needy are included as beneficiaries.

For 2012, the DSWD received an allocation of P39 billion for its Pantawid Pamilya program. Of this, P35 billion was allocated for the cash grants for 3.1 million household-beneficiaries of the program. The remaining P3.9 billion is allocated for the operational costs of the program to include funding for the Social Marketing and Advocacy component of the program.

As a student of community development, I see the need for programs like the CCT.  In the minds of many, there are only stereotypes of poverty.  In the real world, There are gradations of poverty.  Among the poorest of the poor, there are those who need dole outs to be able to lift eventually themselves out of poverty.  They need an initial boost—some relief and support.  Something like the CCT (or the PPPP, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, under the current administration).

However, the success of CCT will be highly contingent on the proper determination of beneficiaries.  Only the poorest of the poor must be included, thus the importance of ‘cleaning the list’ and protecting them from the manipulation of unscrupulous bureaucrats and politicians, like these Epal local leaders.

Indeed the term Epal has become matunog.

The online Anti-Epal campaign is an exemplary citizen’s initiative that has lead to positive developments in the real world.  This is a case of the virtual becoming real.  The conceptual becoming operational.

On the social networking site Facebook, there Anti-Epal page has garnered 37,264 “likes” thus far.  This means tens of thousands supporting the campaign and echoing it messages to netizens around the world.

What politician would want to be ridiculed for his antics in the real world?  I mean, for instance, who would want his chromed nameplate on some piece of concrete slab, a road marker, made fun of in social networking sites and called a “lapida” (I see things like these in Quezon City)?

The Anti-Epal page rightfully argues that “Government officials (elected and non-elected), also known as PUBLIC SERVANTS, should not be allowed to use public money to display their name or image in public places in furtherance of their careers,” and so it sees itself as “a venue for the public to share photos of this (mal)practice, that will eventually lead to the public shaming of officials to the end that this practice will stop.”

For the Anti-Epal page administrators the term “Epal” covers public officials “who claim credit for publicly funded projects by placing their name, image, or likeness on signs or on the projects themselves.  It also includes premature campaigning, when public officials or people aspiring for public office engage in election activities geared towards furthering their political ambitions, when this happens outside the official campaign period.”

The DSWD’s appropriation of the term for its own campaign is in fact one indicator of the relative success of the online Anti-Epal campaign.  Ordinary citizens or netizens have responded to the anti-Epal call, now a whole institution, the DSWD, in its efforts to fight poverty and help plant the seeds of inclusive growth the has joined the bandwagon.

Some shamed politicians have removed their Epalicious posts or have toned down.  Some strongly deny they are the ones who order their names and faces splattered in public.

In Rosario, Cavite, news reports tell us of a local ordinance being passed and Epal tarpaulins of all politicians being removed.  In the Halls of Congress, an Anti-Epal Bill is simmering.

Watch out Epal politicians.  There is more to come.  Your Epalicious days are numbered.  Matunog na matunog kayo.  Your names are resonant, you revenants.

 

Reposted from: http://www.thelobbyist.biz