QUEZON CITY -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), led by Secretary Erwin T. Tulfo, welcomed the team of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Philippines headed by Country Representative Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov and Deputy Country Representative Thomas Meyer during a courtesy call on August 16, 2022 to share updates on the UNICEF partnership with the Department.

Joining the courtesy call were: Undersecretary Charles Frederick Co; Assistant Secretary Janet Armas; Director Mike Hilario; Ms. Catherine Grace Lagunday, Head of the DSWD Resource Generation and Management Office (RGMO); Ms. Patricia Lim Ah Ken, UNICEF Chief of Child Protection; Ms. Rosela Agcaoili, UNICEF Social Policy Specialist; and, Mr. Jesus S. Far, UNICEF Child Protection Specialist.

In the meeting, Ms. Dendevnorov mentioned the DSWD-UNICEF’s Rolling Work Plan (RWP) for 2022 to 2023, which focuses on the following work areas: Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD), Child Protection, Social Policy, and Humanitarian Assistance.

Meanwhile, Sec. Tulfo mentioned the initiatives of the Department to continuously uphold the rights and welfare of the Filipino children, especially those from poor families.

“I have talked to the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Department of Justice and we will be creating a task force to combat child pornography and child trafficking. We will be meeting very soon to form a group to go after individuals behind child trafficking and child pornography in our country,” Secretary Tulfo said.

“In the next few weeks, we will be rescuing street children begging for money, for alms on the streets. We will have to rescue them and bring them to our reception center. We will coordinate with the local government units with our police units under the Violence Against Women and Children Desk to help us out in the rescue of these kids and bring them to our reception centers, but we will be informing their parents to tell them that we will be doing such rescue and (we will) bring them to our offices, our centers,” the Secretary added.

In addition, Secretary Tulfo said that the DSWD is currently preparing for the provision of educational assistance under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS). The Agency is also planning on extending working hours during the weekend to accommodate the evaluation of poor families and other vulnerable sectors by the National Household Targeting Office or Listahanan and the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

Lastly, the Secretary pledged that the DSWD will continue innovating and strengthening its child protection programs to ensure that all children, from the urban to the remote areas, will not be left behind. (DSWD)