SOCIAL Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo must be grinning from ear to ear over the recent pronouncement of the Department of Finance that government should prioritize existing social protection programs over another round of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) social amelioration subsidies.

Finance Secretary Benjamine Diokno said social amelioration subsidies have hardly any urgent basis given the continuous recovery of the economy and the full restoration of public mobility.

Diokno said with the normalization, it is more appropriate to continue the existing social protection programs –the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) welfare grants for poor families with children of school age, support for senior citizens, assistance to displaced workers, etc.

The ‘ayudas’ associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, such as in Bayanihan I and II, should cease as normalization is achieved and as we learn to live with the virus,” he said in a statement Tuesday, Diokno said.

He said the distribution of ‘ayudas’ or cash aids were justified during the height of lockdowns and restricted mobility of citizens. Citizens are now free to move around, while face-to-face classes are already back.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. said in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) the government will not implement lockdowns anymore.

“Public finances are finite. They have to be allocated judiciously for programs and projects that would result in the greatest benefit for the greatest number of citizens and the overall welfare,” Diokno said.

He cited for instance the financing requirement for the recently approved Republic Act No. 11916, or the Social Pension for Indigent Seniors Act which lapsed into law on July 30, 2022. The law doubled the monthly pension for senior citizens from P500 to P1,000.

With priority being pushed for existing social protection programs, the DSWD could get more funding and reach more needy Filipinos – something Secretary Tulfo has been busy about since becoming the social welfare chief.

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I’m a Globe customer and I’m not very happy with the signal on my phones. It affects many aspects of my life including work.

Why is this when Globe Telecom Inc. (Globe) is claiming to have built a total of 572 new cell towers and upgraded around 6,800 mobile sites to 4G LTE in the first half of the year alone.

Globe SVP and head of network planning and engineering Joel Agustin said the company is “on track” with its network rollout target to end the year with about 1,700 new cell sites, more than the 1,407 cell sites it built in 2021.

“Our network rollout momentum continues, and it is faster. We accomplished about 70 percent more than in the same period last year. We are very positive that we can set a new build record this 2022,” Agustin said.

By the end of June, Globe has spent 56 percent or P50.5 billion of its P89 billion capital expenditure allocation for the year.

“Globe’s aggressive network expansion is in line with its support for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including UN SDG No. 9, which highlights the roles of infrastructure and innovation as crucial drivers of economic growth and development,” he said.

He highlighted the recognitions received by Globe from global analytics firm Ookla as the “Philippines’ most reliable mobile network” with a “consistency score” of 79.44 and the “most available in all technology” with a score of 93.11 for being a network whose users spend the highest percentage of their time on “all technology.”

“All our efforts are not only aimed to elevate the standard of connectivity within the Philippines, but equally important, this continued drive will deliver a consistent level of quality,” he said.

Globe should do more because the standard of connectivity in the country has not improved at all.

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