Two Pantawid Pamilya staff from the Iloilo Provincial Operations Office were recognized by the DSWD Central Office for bravery in rendering public service despite the road mishap.
Clarisse Marie Estribor, Pantawid Municipal Roving Bookkeeper (MRB), and Ires Alvarez, Social Welfare Assistant (SWA), both assigned ni Carles, Iloilo were given Pusong Magiting National Award through Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista during the 70th Anniversary Celebration via virtual awarding ceremony recently.
It was July 29, 2020, when the two met a motorcycle accident due to mishandling of shifting gears. That time, Ires was driving her motorcycle with Clarisse as her back-rider. They were on their way going to a remote barangay of Balasan to augment for a Social Amelioration Program (SAP) payout. They were expected to serve a total of 1, 736 people in two separate gyms.
Despite bruises and body pains, they endure it just to serve the people who were patiently waiting for them. The two went directly to the barangay gyms assigned to them and stayed the whole day until 7:00 PM. Without them, the payout would have finished late in the evening considering the number of beneficiaries that had to be catered.
Within the four days they augmented in the SAP pay-out even with the accident that they had, the nominees served a total of 2, 371 people in three municipalities of Iloilo.
Clarisse has been in the Department for 10 years while Ires is on her 5th year of public service.
Their dedication in helping the marginalized sector even when faced between life and death is a beacon of inspiration to the entire DSWD workforce and to all the front liners who continue to risk their life with the dangers brought by the Pandemic. (with reports from PDO II Carl Myson Dulla).//