Marcos names Valenzuela rep Rex Gatchalian DSWD chief

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. appointed Valenzuela City First District Representative Rexlon “Rex” T. Gatchalian as the new secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Marcos administered the oath of office of Gatchalian in Malacañang on Tuesday during the 72nd anniversary of DSWD.

Gatchalian replaced former Social Welfare Secretary Erwin T. Tulfo.

Prior to his stint in Congress, Gatchalian also served as mayor of Valenzuela City.

During his administration, Valenzuela City received recognition for having one of the Top 10 Outstanding Local Governance Programs under the Galing Pook Awards in 2021.

He is also a younger brother of Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian.

Marcos, meanwhile, urged the agency to continue “calibrating” its flagship Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

Marcos gave the instruction during his speech at the DSWD anniversary rites its head office in Quezon City last Tuesday.

He stressed the importance of improving the program, which he noted will be crucial for the government targets to reduce the country’s poverty incidences.

“Continue calibrating the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and strengthening the government’s social protection initiatives, especially since one of the measures we undertake to address poverty is through the grants that we provide for the health needs of every household and education of our children,” Marcos said.

Under the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028, the government is targeting to bring down poverty incidence in the country to 8.8 to 9 percent in the next five years.

Last year, former DSWD Secretary Erwin T. Tulfo already raised the need to fine-tune the implementation of 4Ps since some of its beneficiaries were using their grant in gambling.

The 4Ps is the government’s poverty reduction initiative, which provides qualified extremely poor beneficiaries grants to help improve their health, nutrition and education.

The flagship program will get the bulk or P102.61 billion of the DSWDS P151 billion budget this year.