Department of Social Welfare and Development beneficiaries in Western Visayas, including Negros Occidental, were assured Thursday, Nov. 7, that politicians cannot delist them from DSWD programs.
“Only the DSWD can delist you from our programs and projects and removal can only be done for valid cause”, Regional Director Arwin O. Razo said.
“If you are threatened of being removed from our programs because you are not supporting a certain candidate that is a lie. We do not do that. We remain non-political,” Razo said.
The DSWD Field Office VI issued the assurance amid informal reports that “there are politicians spreading lies by telling the beneficiaries that they will be delisted from DSWD programs if they will not be supporting their candidacy”.
The inclusion in the 4Ps program is based on a “Listahanan” database of poor households, this is not determined in the barangay, municipal or city level, the DSWD statement said.
Inclusion in the Social Pension Program is also based on the “Listahanan” and has a criteria, it added.
“Rest assured that our programs are insulated from politics. Politicians cannot remove our beneficiaries,” Razo said.*