“We Welcome Sen. Santiago’s Probe” — Sec. Soliman

“We welcome the senate probe on relief goods and ‘Yolanda’ donations that will be initiated by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. This will give us the opportunity to clear the issues and to explain further our programs and services and the positive changes these efforts have made in the lives of the beneficiaries.”

This was the statement of Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman following the pronouncement of Sen. Santiago that she will file on Monday a resolution to investigate the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA).

“We are ready to face Sen. Santiago anytime for an investigation. We are not hiding anything. In fact, we thank Sen. Santiago for this because she is giving us the best platform to explain all the alleged controversies.

“Once and for all, we want to put an end to the allegations and misconceptions that do not give justice and recognition to the DSWD staff and volunteers who worked long hours, risked life and limb – or were in fact injured -, and put the needs of the victims before their own during the disaster relief operations,” Sec. Soliman said.

Sec. Soliman maintained that the audit findings do not indicate any irregularity. “We have given our management responses on the issues and these were all accepted by COA. They included these in their final report but were missed out by media,” Sec. Soliman said.

Source: www.dswd.gov.ph