Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.
Security men of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Quezon City push back a crowd trying to enter the head office on Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022, to avail of the cash assistance that the DSWD started distributing to indigent students. The government is expected to spread out P500 million over the next six weeks. PHOTO BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
OF the various public reactions to the disastrous distribution of financial aid for students by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) last Saturday — anger, frustration, disgust, embarrassment — the one that was most noticeable for its absence was surprise. No one apart from the individual in question and the President who appointed him had any expectations that a talk show host with a reputation built on being a purveyor of poverty porn would perform well, or even adequately as the head of the DSWD; some may not have expected him to fall on his face so quickly or spectacularly, but otherwise, Saturday's chaos confirmed everyone's skepticism.