The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has stopped accepting online applications for its education assistance program.
In an interview, DWSD spokesman Romel Lopez said their office received over 2 million applications for its cash program for indigent students, prompting their budget to balloon to PHP 1.5 billion which can only benefit up to 400,000 students.
"Nakakalungkot man na talagang hindi kaya ng aming sistema, sapagkat ‘yung aming application na pinoproseso ay higit 2 million na. Sa sobrang dami, hindi na kaya ng sistema. Minarapat na ni Secretary Erwin [Tulfo] na itigil na ang online application," Lopez said.
[It is saddening that our system can no longer accommodate the volume of applications, which has exceeded 2 million. The number of applications has overwhelmed our system so DSWD Sec. Tulfo advised to stop accepting online applications.]
Lopez said the DSWD would ask the help of some personnel from other assistance programs to sort through duplicate submissions and applications in offices that do not match the locality of the applicant.
"'Yan ang kasama sa nahihirapan kaming i-proseso ngayon. Dati 'yung aming pag-reply sa kanila tumatagal lang ng 2-3 days, may natatanggap kaming reklamo, inaamin namin na 'yung iba August pa nag-apply, isang buwan na hindi pa kami nakaka-reply," he added.
[We admit we are struggling with the number of applications we have now. We used to be able to reply to an application within 2-3 days, but we have been receiving reports where an applicant has waited for over a month for a response from us.]
Despite this, Lopez assured us that the DSWD will still process existing applications as long as the budget for the program remains available.
The DSWD official also expressed hopes the department will be granted additional funding – from its initially proposed PHP 194 billion budget – for the educational assistance in 2023.
The DSWD is also seeking to source funding from lawmakers to augment the agency's budget for the educational assistance program.
"Pagtutulungan lang namin ang funding. Ibigay na rin natin sa ating mga mambabatas, kabisado nila ang kanilang locality, mas makakatulong ito na ma-identify natin ang poorest of the poor, mas mapahaba ang pisi at mas mapalawak ang maabot ng educational assistance," Lopez said.
[We hope to get congressmen’s support to fund the educational assistance program in their localities. Coordinating with them would help us better identify the poorest of the poor and augment the program’s budgets so more people can benefit from it.]
