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Why the DSWD Still Needs PRIVATE Sectors in Disaster Relief Operations

DSWD Field Office 7 - Central Visayas

It's disheartening to know that after the Bogo earthquake in Cebu last September 30, 2025. Today, an earthquake Davao Oriental this day on October 10, 2025. It's sad to think that today is October 10, which is the Double 10 celebration for Taiwan. Right now, it's effortless for fools on Facebook (which is ironic) giving anti-capitalist, anti-business rants, never mind that even Vietnam is no longer solely dependent on State-Owned Enterprises! Instead, it made me think of the COVID-19 incident all over again, such as how Foodpanda and Grab, both foreign delivery services, have been helpful to Filipino businesses. Some idiots said on Facebook (and as always, I will not mention their names, they're public figures) that it is the workers who did the work, not the owners, and that the government should provide everything.

One crazy comment I got from someone on Facebook was, "Why should there be private enterprises? The DSWD is there! Businesses don't care about people!" Such people say that they're merely "forced to participate in capitalism". The Department of Social Welfare and Development, or DSWD, has a specific purpose as a government agency. Any government agency, such as the DSWD, has a mandate to regulate citizen activities. We could see how government agencies are tasked with regulating public health, environment, and welfare activities. The DSWD has its mandate to like its meaning, to promote social welfare and development! The DSWD is the agency. The private businesses, on the other hand, actually finance government spending.

Let's remember that the government had to get its money somewhere, not print it

This is one quote that we need to realize. We have people who want to live at the expense of the state. What people tend to forget is that the state lives at the expense of everyone. After all, think what finances the state? If we think about it, taxes are used to finance government spending. Investopedia gives this definition of taxes:

Taxes are mandatory contributions levied on individuals or corporations by a government entity—whether local, regional, or national. Tax revenues finance government activities, including public works and services such as roads and schools, or programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

In economics, taxes fall on whoever pays the burden of the tax, whether this is the entity being taxed, such as a business, or the end consumers of the business’s goods. From an accounting perspective, there are various taxes to consider, including payroll taxes, federal and state income taxes, and sales taxes.

In short, the government and private sectors are both dependent on each other. The private sector depends on the government for protection and regulation. The government depends on the private sector to finance its spending. It's not just taxes, but individuals can invest in government bonds to lend money to the government, for government spending! I've invested in bonds before I invested in stocks via UITFs.  

To those who argue that the government can just "print more money", even if money is passed through the law of supply and demand. Mocking supply and demand will not make it go away. If the government prints more money, then the value of the money will go down. That's why citizens funding is needed. If there's too much money with too little demand, then the value of the money goes down with it. In short, the DSWD couldn't solely rely on government funding such as taxes. It's because taxes wouldn't be enough.

How can the private sector members help the DSWD, either directly or indirectly?

Whether we want to admit it or not, the DSWD alone couldn't do everything in disaster relief operations. The DSWD doesn't exist to be the lone source of help for citizens in danger. Instead, it serves to regulate the activities involved with social welfare, such as the private sectors that offer help during times of crisis. The private sector members can involve businesses, non-government organizations (like Red Cross and Angat Buhay, certain non-profit corporations, private schools, and religious organizations (which may also own religious schools), to name a few. 

Here are several ways that these private sector members can contribute to the DSWD's efforts:
  1. Calling for donations from the public to donate cash/goods for disaster relief. This may require permission from the DSWD. This is called the solicitation permit.
  2. On the other hand, some businesses and organizations belonging to the private sector can do fundraising within themselves. For example, a religious organization can request its parishioners give some cash or in-kind, to help with its activities.  
  3. A business can allocate some of its resources to either provide cash or kind relief to organizations. For example, a restaurant can voluntarily allocate some resources for feeding medical workers (like during the COVID-19 pandemic) or offer its hand in providing hot meals in a feeding program. A restaurant may also give some money to whatever religious organization it belongs to.
  4. Privately-owned hospitals can provide health workers.
The private sector itself would end up lending the government a hand in the operations. The role that DSWD will play will be to regulate the activities. They may not require permit to operate. However, they will still have to be subjected to protocol from the DSWD, such as:
  1. Distribution channels are orderly.
  2. Relief goods are in good condition. 
  3. No violation of the anti-epal law, which is trying to gain fame through relief projects.
  4. Nobody should be profiting from selling the goods to victims. Only the business establishment that sold the relief goods will get the profit. The groceries aren't obliged to give relief goods but they can do so, but exercise discretion not to run themselves dry. The groceries are only obliged to sell at a fair price, not make unjust profits!
Profits are needed to keep the groceries running. The only time profits should be questioned is if groceries are selling things beyond the suggested retail price. This is also why I advocate to invite more FDI by removing unreasonable restrictions. It's because FDI can help add to the private sector to finance long-term disaster relief. 
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