The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Northern Mindanao (DSWD-10) honored on Friday police and military personnel in the region as key partners in helping the agency deliver services to communities.
During the “Salamat Po Award” ceremony held in this city, DSWD-10 Director Mari-Flor Dollaga led the distribution of plaques to the personnel and officials of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division and Police Regional Office-10.
Also given recognition were Army units under the 1st Infantry Division in Misamis Occidental, Lanao del Norte, and Lanao del Sur provinces.
“With your collaboration, payouts (to beneficiaries) were always secure, always organized because of (the police and military’s) strong presence and full cooperation. That is why we have safe and timely delivery of family food packs because they are assured of the help they deserve,” Dollaga said.
She also thanked the Army units for providing warehouses free of charge in storing food packs and other relief goods the agency has gathered for affected communities hit by calamities.
Lt. Gen. Greg Almerol, head of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) – Eastern Mindanao Command, said the awards were a testament to the cohesive partnership between DSWD–10 and the AFP under the working mechanisms of Executive Order No. 70 (EO 70).
EO 70 institutionalizes the whole of nation approach to end communist insurgency in the countryside.
“Through this act (EO-70), the AFP was given a more defined role and a mandate to collaborate and operate with other government agencies, local government units, and the other sectors of the society,” Almerol said.
With DSWD as a partner, Almerol said the AFP managed to engage in peace and development programs that address root causes of communist conflict and integrate former rebels back into mainstream society
Meanwhile, DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista, who graced the event, also acknowledged other units such as the Philippine Coast Guard, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, and Office of the Civil Defense as partners.
Bautista said the partnerships with the military and the police were considered crucial especially in hinterland villages when DSWD personnel release cash aid to the beneficiaries of the social amelioration program, conditional cash transfers, and social pension for indigent senior citizens.
” I am proud to say all theDSWD personnel nationwide are working (as the military does), I also call them first responders, you can see them despite the risk at hand, that go to the areas that are sometimes risky to deliver services,” he said.
Before becoming the DSWD secretary in 2018, Bautista served as the commanding general of the Philippine Army.
Source: Philippines News Agency