THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Central Luzon has warned the public against unauthorized solicitations being conducted by unscrupulous individuals on behalf of the department.
The warning came as information about an alleged fraud and conduct of unauthorized solicitation came to the attention of the department through social media.
The DSWD, in its Facebook account, said there "where photos of documents bearing the name Young Women Blind Association of the Philippines Inc., and 'representative,' Julius V. Cortez, and a fake DSWD certificate without the department's seal and forged signature of DSWD's regional director Gemma B. Gabuya."
"This is to further confirm that the above-mentioned documents are not issued with neither knowledge nor approval of DSWD Region III," the DSWD said.
DSWD-Central Luzon reminded the public that public solicitation should be conducted with duly approved permit from DSWD.
Presidential Decree 1564 or the Solicitation Permit Law, states that DSWD shall be the exclusive authority to regulate the solicitation of donations or receiving of contributions for charitable or public welfare purposes.
Also, Executive Order (EO) 24, series of 2001 has been issued to grant DSWD as the final authority to approve or disapprove requests for the conduct of national fundraising campaigns.
DSWD Administrative Order (AO) 14, series of 2007 or Revised Omnibus Rules and Regulations on Public Solicitations and the addendum DSWD AO 18 series of 2010 in regulating the practice of solicitation are needed to operationalize the two issuances.
Nevertheless, the issuance of two different guidelines creates confusion to its users, hence the Memorandum Circular 17, series of 2014 "Revised Omnibus Rules and Regulations on Public Solicitation" was issued by the department.
Any person found violating the Solicitation Permit Law (PD 1564) and its Implementing Rules and Regulations stipulated in the Department Order 40 series of 1994, shall upon conviction suffer the penalty of imprisonment of not more than one (1) year, or a fine of not more than One Thousand Pesos (P1,000.00), or both, at the discretion of the court; if the offender is a corporation, organization or other judicial person, the penalty shall be imposed on the guilty officials, employee or member; if the guilty person is an alien, he/she shall be deported after serving sentence, without further proceedings.