SOCIAL WELFARE KNEE-DEEP IN BUREAUCRATIC METHODS.

Stranded at a mall, I began to ponder on the situation of a senior citizen. Where is she now?  Is she home? Where will she sleep? I forgot to ask her because I was in a hurry to have lunch.

Then I remembered, I had gone to the DSWD Social Service Department of the QC Hall on Jun 17, 2020 and brought to them the report that I had been excluded from the list of social amelioration beneficiaries. I had gone to the barangay, two days late because of some convoluted instructions to an aide. I don’t know if that aide gave my form to the right people. But when Ms Rose Borlongan, our governess at our place had told me to go to the Barangay to be part of the amelioration program, , I immediately did.

I was under quarantine for months and so only relied on other people to tell me what to do.

However, at the barangay, the officers in charge of the  SAP did not want to receive me anymore because they said the deadline for listing had passed. (Two days ago, June 15^th,  later on I had been told.)  

 So then, I wrote a letter to the Barangay Capt. Fernand Ubaldo that same day explaining my situation and left, thinking that the papers would flow in its normal way.

Two weeks had passed and nothing was happening. So I went to the barangay again and then, I was told that the deadline was over. “I am going to the DSWD about this; may I have your written reply?”  I think he was shocked to know that I would go to that extent. “You should not be going around because you are a senior citizen and could catch the Covid 19.” I replied, “No one would do this for me.”   So he had his secretary, Reggie, prepare a reply and what I had read was an endorsement to Ms. Fe Macale, head of the DSWD at QC Hall.

No jeep, so I had to take a cab to QC Hall. At the DSWD office,  the receptionist said that they could npt provide me copies of the papers. Fortunately, the guard was so nice, he volunteered to Xerox my papers and so I was able to submit my letter plus the response of Mr. Ubaldo.

Then I asked for their phone number so I could follow up. The receptionist said I would be contacted. But I insisted on having a phone number. When they did not budge, I contacted 8888 and registered my complaint that the DSWD at QC Hall does not have a phone number that I can call and that their phone according to the receptionist has been out of order since the lockdown; that I want my social amelioration payout.

But when the receptionist saw that I had contacted Malacanyang, immediately another woman came down and gave me a phone number of Au who turned out to be the leader of the senior citizens’ group.

Today, when I called up Au she said she is on lockdown and cannot do anything about my problem.

Folks, at age 72, should I suffer this way? Going from one office to another, without regular transportation; being shuttled from one desk to another; and having no phone number/s to contact? What do these people think of me, a robot, desensitized and incapable of getting tired from their roundabout methods?

My goodness, tell me, what is the next stop, the DILG? They told me that they would call me up this week, but those are just words.

The governor told me that all the people in our building would be receiving their pay-out tomorrow. Is this how social services should be done, full of uncertainties and convoluted modus operandi?