Baguio City – Epals during barangay election period will now think twice in taking advantage of the Department of Social Welfare and Development programs particularly the PantawidPamilyang Pilipino Program after the agency recently forged a tripartite Memorandum of Agreement with Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)

The three national government agencies joined forces to protect the rights of the beneficiaries of the PantawidPamilya from epal politicians who might use the beneficiaries for their own political gains this coming barangay election.

DSWD, COMELEC, and DILG agreed to ensure that the implementation of the PantawidPamilya will be free from manipulation and political control while protecting the rights of its beneficiaries for honest and free elections.

The distribution of cash grants to the beneficiaries of PantawidPamilyang Pilipino Program will also be temporarily halted during the election period to ensure that epals will not use it as a venue to campaign for the barangay elections.

Meanwhile, all DSWD-CAR provincial and municipal staff are now provided guidelines in handling cases related to election grievances that affect the beneficiaries of its programs especially  the Conditional Cash Transfer.

The implementation of Bawal Ang Epal Dito campaign in the Cordillera is already intensified especially that some of the areas were identified as election hotspots during the national elections. # DSWD-CAR, SOCIAL MARKETING UNIT, Jomel Anthony V. Gutierrez