MESSAGE ON SOCIAL WELFARE WEEK
(November 25-December 1, 2019)

As we celebrate this year's Social Welfare Week, let us heighten our awareness and transform it into concrete actions to genuinely address the needs of our less fortunate countrymen.

For the past three years, we have seen how the Duterte regime miserably failed the Filipino people with its broken promises; that instead of uplifting the plight of our poor countrymen, they were victimized by violence and killings, and were continuously taken for a ride by the plunderers, thieves, and traitors in government to further propel themselves to power.

Ang pagtulong at malasakit sa kapwa, lalo na sa mas nangangailangan ay hindi lamang marapat na udyok ng pagkakawanggawa, kundi isang tungkulin na dapat gampanan ng bawat isa. Bilang mga lingkod-bayan at mamamayan, hangga't mayroon pa ring mga gurong tumatawid ng mga ilog at bundok para makapagturo sa mga maralita, hangga't may mga batang nakikipagpatintero sa mga sasakyan sa kalsada para lamang mamalimos at magtinda, hangga't may mga kababayan tayong kapos pa rin ang inihahaing pagkain para sa pamilya sa kabila ng doble-kayod na pagsasaka, pangingisda at pamamasada, nagpapatuloy ang ating obligasyon na siguruhing makahabol at sa kalauna'y makasabay sa pag-unlad ang mga matagal nang naaapi at naisasantabi.

This is why as Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development, I am pushing for legislative measures that seek to improve our services to sectors that have long been neglected by authorities on top of those already enacted into law, such as the Magna Carta of the Poor Act, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Act, the National Commission of Senior Citizens Act and the Community-Based Monitoring System Act.

With these measures, and with the help of our social workers, non-government organizations and institutions, let us continue to work hand in hand to provide more and better opportunities that will redound to inclusive growth, rising standards of living and lasting national development that will benefit all.

(Sgd.) LEILA M. DE LIMA

PNP Custodial Center, Camp Crame

26 November 2019