My
Stint with the Department of Social Welfare (DSW)
By Apolinario Villalobos
The Department of Social Welfare (DSW) is
among those in the list of corrupt government agencies. That is what surveys and testimonies say.
With this perception, I am deeply saddened, having worked for the said agency
when I was yet in third year college, in order to earn the much needed
contractual wage. It was in the later part of the ‘70s that the agency’s branch
was opened in our town to serve the evacuees who came from as far as Ligwasan
Marsh, boundary towns of Maguindanao and villages on the slope of Mt. Dagoma.
They practically flocked to our town, being at the crossroads of three
provinces, for help. The DSW Regional Office in Davao (then, Region 11),
immediately sent a representative, Mr. Claudio Estante, so that a professional
help can be given to evacuees. Immediately, Mr. Estante looked around for at
least one assistant as a start, and those whom he approached for reference,
mentioned me. He had no choice then, but to immediately asked me if I was
willing to work even late at night. It was not a formal interview, just a
simple inquiry about my willingness to work, to which I immediately answered
with a resounding yes. We agreed on a compromise that I would work Saturdays
and Sundays until late evening, or wee hours of the morning, if necessary,
while I would be free to attend my classes from Monday to Friday.
We made clean lists of evacuees’ names
submitted by the mayor’s office, barangay chairmen and the parish priest. The
lists supported his request for relief goods to be submitted every Monday to
the regional office in Davao City. Upon the reliefs’ delivery, we would
mobilize some evacuees to help us with the repacking. Bagful of these reliefs,
were then distributed among the evacuees organized into small groups of
families in different evacuation centers, not only in our town but the safe
neighboring ones.
I was joined by a classmate whom I
recommended to my boss, as the required responsibilities proved to be too exhausting. Much later, other staffs were hired,
including a lone full time Social Worker. That was the peak of the
Christian-Muslim conflict in the different provinces of central Mindanao, and
practically, no day is complete without us witnessing several jeepneys filled
with wounded civilians, caught in the crossfire, hurriedly transported to
clinics and hospitals. Early mornings would be broken by intermittent
explosions from the direction of Ligwasan Marsh and other nearby “encounter”
areas. We also made use of the time spent in our visits to evacuation centers
and distribution of relief goods, in disseminating information on population
awareness and family planning. “Food for work” was later implemented during the
time as a sustaining program, with the evacuees made to clean streets in
exchange for relief goods.
I left the agency soonest as I have
graduated from college. The rest of my classmates were left behind. One was
offered a scholarship in Australia for a Social Work course, perhaps, to
prepare him for a greater responsibility, which happened years later, as he
became the Regional Director and later, transferred to Manila to assume an
Asst. Secretary position. The other one, got connected with the Department of
Budget and Management in Legazpi City, and later occupied an important
administrative position in the state university.
During my stint with the agency, I was not
aware that its topmost position had already been made as a “repository” for
political appointees. I thought innocently that all positions in government
agencies, including their heads are occupied by “career officers”. That has
been my perception in view of the required “eligibilities” for the employees
who are supposed to work their way up to the highest rung of the agency’s hierarchy.
When I invited my friend to join me in the airline that he flatly refused in
favor of the government scholarship in Australia, I thought that he made the
right choice for his career, with assurance that everything will be alright
because of his eligibilities including one that made him a Career Service
Officer (CSO). I kidded him that our alma mater would be proud to see a DSW
Secretary later on.
When I noticed that the agency became just
like the rest of the so-called “political agencies”, I asked him for the second
time if he was really serious in pursuing his “career” in such agency. He
answered me in the affirmative, as he was almost “there”, being an Assistant
Secretary already. Also, he told me that he was well aware of what was going
on. Unfortunately, despite his good
performance in braving the ashes of Mt. Pinatubo by being at the frontline for
several weeks during its eruption, and wading through waist-deep floods of
Manila and neighboring provinces, he was sort of, deliberately ignored. His case
brought to my mind another hardworking “Secretary” who while still alive, was
not even give a fair air time for interview, although, Filipinos have seen how
he worked diligently, practically, a “jack –of- all- trade” as he was made to
assume different “responsibilities”, with the last at the DILG, and for which,
even at the time of his death, did not receive a confirmation. Or, if he was
confirmed posthumously, I don’t know. Just like him, my friend also died,
hoping against hope that just before he would retire, he could at least settle
his butt in the DSW Secretary’s chair, even for just a few weeks or
months….that was what he would always tell me, every time we had fleeting
moments for coffee at their unassuming home on one of the floors of an old condo
building in Pasay City. We discussed his plans for which he made me give him
assurance that I would help him as his “consultant”, when he will be promoted
again as Undersecretary. Unfortunately, he succumbed to one of humanity’s
dreaded diseases – hypertension. Had he been alive, I do not know if there
would be complaints against the DSW regarding the distribution of relief goods
when typhoon Yolanda brought havoc to many Visayan provinces. During the
eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, during which he was given coordinative
responsibilities in relief distribution, no complaint was ever heard against
the agency.
Looking back at my good old days with the
DSW, I cannot help but smile and be thankful for what it has afforded me as my
“training ground” for a better career. But I cannot also help but feel
apprehensive, thinking of what could have happened, had I persisted in working
in such agency. With incessant exposures made about the agency, that started
years ago, yet, God forbid what I could have done. I envied my friend for his
cool personality, shrugging off pressures that came his way. His patience was
not stretched by a string, but by a rubber with seemingly endless elasticity.
My patience is so brittle that I crack easily, especially in the face of
questionable happenings around me.
