To the Members of the Executive Committee,the Management Committee, the Organizing Committee of this year’re PRAISE awards and of course to all our staff and employees who are here today, a most pleasant afternoon to all of you and Welcome to the PRAISE AWARDS Ceremony!

We have been so very busy this past month as we conducted one activity after another — all as part of our 66th Anniversary. From sports fests, urban poor community information drives, Gameshows and film showings, we showed the bonds of friendship and camaraderie  that exist within the DSWD, among the employees, and between our officials and our partners. Just the other day we held the Panata awards and it was a resounding success as we thanked our partners for their valuable and even immeasurable support for our work, advocacies, and campaigns to promote and protect the social welfare of the Filipino people.

Today, however, we give recognition and honor to our own people –the men and women of DSWD who have devoted their lives to the department and our partner-beneficiaries, and who continue to use all their strength, skill, intelligence, and compassion to uphold a standard of professionalism that fully benefits the poor and marginalized sectors whom we have all vowed to serve. The PRAISE Awardsis our culminating activity for our 66th anniversary, and let it be said that it is also our most important: we in the DSWD through this ceremony affirm our commitment to social work, to community development, and to aspirations of a stronger, more efficient DSWD that relies on the collective power of its employees and leaders to always get the job done!

We cannot say this enough: the DSWD’s effectiveness in carrying out its mandate and duties rests largely on its employees. The leaders and officials myself included provide the direction, and set the mission, vision, and goals of the department, but it will be up to the employees to realize all of them.

The creativity, productiveness, dedication to public service, and compassion for the poor and those in need is what help our employees to push and push hard to overcome challenges and meet milestones.
“Ang mga masisipag na kawani ang pundasyon ng ating Kagawaran. Mula nang ako ay matalaga bilang kalihim ng Kagawaran, walong  buwan na ang nakararaan, nakita at nadama ko ang dedikasyon ng ating mga kawani. Marami kung hindi kalakhan  ay gumugugol ng higit otso oras sa pagtupad sa kanilang mga tungkulin, lalo na kapag may disaster operations. Iniiwan ang kanilang mga pamilya upang kagyat na matulungan ang mga nasalanta ng kalamidad, at sumusuong sa panganib para maihatid ang suporta ng ahensya para sa mga apektadong pamilya.

 This is why we consider this afternoon’s awards ceremony the most important among all our 66th Anniversary activities.

At this juncture, let me remind everyone of the mechanisms of the PRAISE awards.

The PRAISE Awards are divided into the following sub-categories:

Best Crisis Intervention Unit – This award recognizes the delivery of timely and appropriate direct financial benefits to indigent Filipinis, including hospitalization assistance,  burial assistance,  and transportation assistance for those who wish to return to their provinces.

Gawad #DSWDMayMalasakit – This award recognizes the proactive move of the Department’s field offices to inform the public of our programs and services through the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Then there is the Tatak Maagap at Mapagkalingang Serbisyo sa Larangan ng Disaster Response -This award  is given to DSWD-Field Offices that have been able to provide quick and prompt delivery of services while making compassion (malasakit) their ethos when discussing and addressing people’s concerns.

Up next is the Gawad HUWARAN (Mahuhusay, Wasto at Responsableng Lingkod Bayani ng DSWD) – This award is given to the DSWD employee who has rendered extraordinary work an service and showed exemplary application of DSWD’s three core competencies in his/her work execution, thereby significantly contributing to the achievement of the strategic goals of the office/bureau/service and DSWD.

What are these three core competencies of DSWD employees?  Commitment to Credible Public Service, Delivering Excellent Results, and Personal Effectiveness. This afternoon, 12 employees will receive this award.

In the meantime, special awards such as the Gawad Kalihim will be given by the office of the Department Secretary  to individual employees who serve as sources of inspiration and motivation to other employees.

Sixteen employees from the different offices, bureaus, services and units from the DSWD Central Office and 58 employees from our Feld Offices willl receive this award.

So these are our PRAISE awards. Congratulations in advance to all the recipients and their Field Offices, and I raise a fist in salute to all your hard work! Immediately after this, let us prepare to overcome more challenges, meet more milestones, and serve more Filipinos in need! Maraming salamat at mabuhay kayong lahat!