The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office IX warns the public on the fraudulent activities reported in Zamboanga City on the issuance of Fake IDs and false inclusion in Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

A walk-in complaint was filed by a non-beneficiary victim residing in Barangay Canelar Moret regarding the case. The victim said that a certain Ms. Atilano who presented herself as worker of DSWD told the household that she is conducting interview. Her activities include recruiting of families for inclusion in Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program and issuance of fake IDs in exchange of Php 200 pesos. The said recruiter also promised the victims to expect grants amounting Php 3,900 from the program for three months period covered.

The agency clarifies the public that DSWD does not collect any amount in exchange of Identification Cards or any form of services. The DSWD reiterates that issuances of IDs are done only during Program Orientation Seminar (POS) and not through house-to house visits. The agency follows ID request protocols especially for newly registered beneficiaries where extraction of list should only come from the Regional Office through its Pantawid Pamilya Information System (PPIS). Only the City or Municipal links of DSWD assigned in the area are authorized to release IDs to their beneficiaries.

The confiscated fake IDs bear logos of DSWD, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and some information such as Household ID number. Upon validation, it is found out that the household ID number does not match in the Pantawid system or in any number series recorded in the database. There were forged signatures, Typographical errors including incorrect design and layout orientation seen in the fake IDs.The original IDs of Pantawid Pamilya have each unique security features that cannot be easily tampered or reproduced. The names are generated from the list of registered households and cannot be manually written.  Each Pantawid Pamilya household has an exclusive number recorded in the system and can easily be tracked down from the set they belong up to the area where they reside.

DSWD also clarifies that Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries have to follow certain conditionalities in Health and Education in order to receive grants. In addition, the grants are not given in one quarter period but rather bi-monthly period only. There is also no assurance of getting the grants without doing their said co-responsibilities.

There are also other documents that need to be filled-up and only City Links assigned in the area can conduct activities such as Family Development Sessions and Community Assemblies.

Potential beneficiaries can only be included in the Pantawid program if the households were assessed by Listahanan and were identified as poor. The household must also have children 0-18 or have a pregnant member at the time of the enumeration for them to be qualified.

Proper coordination has been made among barangay officials to counter these activities. Should there be any similar incident and cases such as this, please immediately report to the regional office for proper action and documentation.

DSWD calls for vigilance among households not to entertain suspicious activities and not to divulge information from anyone without validating from their barangay officials and assigned DSWD worker (City/Municipal Link) in the area. The agency stands on its measure to apprehend the recruiters and be filed with legal charges once proven guilty. ##