Press Release
June 9, 2014

Soliman bids to extend DSWD stay beyond 8 years

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon "Dinky" Soliman is leaving no stone unturned to get herself confirmed by the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA).

Soliman has served as secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for some eight years - a term of office even longer than the term of the Philippine president.

Soliman served as DSWD secretary under two presidents. She held the position during the term of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from 20 January 2001 to 8 July 2005. She was appointed to the same position by President Benigno S. Aquino on 30 June 2010, and has been serving as DSWD secretary since then. She has been bypassed by the CA a whopping 15 times, during both the Arroyo and Aquino administrations.

Earlier, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago wrote a letter to Rep. Conrado Estrella III, chair of the CA committee on labor, employment, and social welfare, expressing her intent to veto Soliman's confirmation. However, members of the Liberal Party in the CA transferred consideration of Soliman's confirmation to 11 June 2014.

According to Santiago, Sec. 20 of the CA rules in effect gives to every CA member the power of individual veto, except only during the plenary session prior to the last day of the Congress session, which happens to be June 11. Thus, on June 11, when Soliman is up for consideration by the CA, Santiago can no longer block her appointment.

"You can see that this maneuver is not only crude and infantile, but also an insult to me as a senator, and to the public as thinking citizens," Santiago said.

Soliman's tenure as DSWD secretary has been marred by controversies. In February 2014, the House committee on good government and public accountability asked Soliman to explain why the DSWD failed to get rice shipments in Subic and distribute them to Typhoon Yolanda victims. As a result of the DSWD inaction, the rice remained rotting in containers at the Subic Freeport.

Earlier, Sister Edita Eslopor, a Benedictine nun and convenor of the People Surge Alliance of Yolanda Victims, revealed that Soliman paid P1,200 each to victims of Typhoon Yolanda in exchange for their signature on a testimony saying that they were content with the DSWD's relief and rehabilitation efforts in their communities.

In 2013, typhoon victims in Mindanao called for Soliman's ouster for the "corruption and inept implementation" of relief and rehabilitation operations in areas devastated by Typhoon Pablo.

Karlos Trangia, spokesperson of Barug Katawhan, said that Soliman should answer for "mismanaging and corrupting the P18-billion calamity fund and international aid" for Typhoon Pablo. He cited overpriced bunkhouses, ghost lists of beneficiaries for the DSWD's "cash-for-work" program, and the lack of relief aid for Pablo survivors.

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