Photo 1: Brgy. Piñahan Kagawad and volunteer Dr. Edwin C. Bernal provides free medical consultation and prescribes medicines to the residents of the barangay during the information and service caravan.
Photo 2: A psychologist from the DSWD provides counseling services to the members of the community who were experiencing emotional trauma or stress.
Photo 3: DSWD employees and barangay volunteers pass through a narrow path as they go around the barangay to distribute information materials about the programs and services of the Department.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to conduct information caravans in some of the poorest barangays in the country with the goal of bringing its programs and services closer to poor Filipinos.

In its latest information drive earlier this month, staff from the Department’s Central Office and Field Office – National Capital region (NCR) reached out to homeless families and individuals staying along NIA Road in Quezon City and provided services to indigent residents at the nearby Barangay Piñahan.

A team of information officers from the Department’s Social Marketing Service (SMS), with the help of barangay volunteers, distributed information, education, and communication (IEC) materials about the DSWD’s programs and services to the residents of the barangay. At the same  time. social workers from FO NCR’s Protective Services Unit (PSU) reached out to the homeless in the area. The homeless families were assessed and will soon after be provided with appropriate intervention by the field office.

Psychologists from the Department and volunteer psychology students from Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST) also participated in the activity, providing counseling services to residents who were experiencing emotional trauma or stress.

The DSWD also partnered with volunteer doctors to offer medical services during the info caravan. Barangay Piñahan Kagawad and Dr. Edwin C. Bernal and Dr. Gerardine Josefina L. Sayo, a Physician and Psychiatrist from Veterans Memorial Medical Center, provided a free consultation to the residents. Staff from the Department distributed vitamins and medicines from the Department of Health.

“It is a privilege to be invited to this activity of the DSWD through Mr. Christian Ranche. I do charity work to glorify God and to honor and continue the legacy of my late parents, RTC Judge Marcelino N. Sayo, Sr. and Prof. Josefina Lazo Lopez-Sayo. They were simple, humble, religious, kind, and generous people. They had a heart for the less fortunate. They gave food, material aid and educational assistance to our relatives and others who were in need. I am nothing without the blessings of God and the love of my parents, and so I am paying it forward to others,” Dr. Sayo said.

For his part, Kagawad Bernal expressed his gratitude to the DSWD and said that he hoped the Department will conduct more of the activity to reach out and provide services to other indigent families.

“Maraming salamat sa DSWD sa aktibidad na ito na naghahatid ng tulong sa mga residente ng aming barangay. Nawa’y marami pa kayong matulungang mahihirap na Pilipino (I thank the DSWD for this activity which provided aid to the residents of our barangay. I hope that you will be able to reach more poor Filipinos),” the Kagawad said.

The DSWD also provided clothing and hot meals to the homeless and indigent residents who availed of the services offered during the activity. The caravan had served a total of 200 residents from the barangay.

Under the directives of DSWD Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo, the Department has been conducting information and service caravan in some of the poorest barangays in the country.

“Sa pamamagitan po ng mga information drives na ito ay mas nailalapit natin ang mga serbisyo ng gobyerno para sa masang Pilipino. Asahan po ninyo na sa mga susunod na buwan ay madadagdagan pa ang mga ganitong aktibidad mula sa aming ahensya upang mas marami pang mga kababayan natin and magkaroon ng kaalaman tungkol sa mga programa at serbisyo ng DSWD para sa mga nangangailangan ng tulong (Through these information drives, we are able to bring our services closer to the Filipino masses. Rest assured that we will continue to conduct more of these activities in the coming months to educate more Filipinos of our programs and services for those in need),” Sec. Taguiwalo said.

The DSWD has earlier conducted info drives at Plaza Miranda in Quiapo; Barangays Happyland and Isla Puting Bato in Tondo; and at Navotas Fish Port in Navotas City, among others. The Department’s field offices have also started conducting info caravan in poor communities in their respective regions.#