THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will revisit implementing guidelines on the distribution of cash aid under the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP) following President Duterte’s order to increase the number of target beneficiaries to 23 million from 18 million, and the downgrading of some areas from enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to general community quarantine (GCQ).
Social Welfare Undersecretary Rene Glen Paje, in radio interview, said the DSWD will determine how the cash assistance will be paid out to the additional five million beneficiaries for April after President Duterte ordered the increase in beneficiaries.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque on Saturday said President Duterte ordered the inclusion of five million households to the current 18 million beneficiaries who got the assistance in April as he acknowledged the difficulties faced by households under the current ECQ.
“Iyan ay muli na pinag-aaraalang mabuti ng DSWD (That is being studied by the DSWD),” Paje said on the President’s order to increase the number of beneficiaries for April.
He said prior to the President’s orders, the DSWD and local government units (LGUs) have been looking at the inclusion of qualified households or families who may have been “left out” in the first tranche of the SAP.
The DSWD said as of 8 p.m. of May 2, 11.6 million low-income families, including beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), or 64.5 percent of the 18 million target beneficiaries, have received their share of the SAP.
This accounts for P62.8 billion or 62.8 percent of the P100-billion SAP budget for April. Of the amount, P16.7 billion went to 3.8 million 4Ps beneficiaries and P45.8 billion to 7.799 million non-4Ps beneficiaries.
DSWD also gave P323.3 million worth of cash aid 40,318 drivers of transportation network vehicle services (TNVS) and public utility vehicle (PUVs) operating in Metro Manila.
Paje said the DSWD would also study how the increase in the number of April SAP beneficiaries would impact on the cash aid distribution for May.
He said another factor that the DSWD needs to consider in its guidelines is the downgrading of some areas into general quarantine areas from enhanced quarantine areas.
He said under the current guidelines, the April beneficiaries are not automatically the same beneficiaries that would receive the SAP payout for May.
Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, the SAP cash aid is between P5,000 to P8,000 per month for April and May and aims to assist some 18 million low-income families or households including 4Ps beneficiaries.
SENIOR CITIZENS
Paje reiterated that the SAP cash subsidy is given per household and not per individual after some senior citizens complained that they have not received the aid.
He reiterated that senior citizens who are receiving pension either from government through the SSS social pension for indigent senior citizens or the retirement pension from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Social Security System (SSS) are also not eligible for the SAP.
In the case of senior citizen pensioners who receive P1,500 or less a month, Paje said they can appeal their case to the barangay and city concerned or the DSWD.
Paje said families with senior citizens who receive pension of P1,500 or less a month but still belong to low income families are eligible for the SAP.
NO EXTENSTION
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said there will be no more extension in the distribution of the first tranche of the cash assistance.
In a radio interview, DILG Undersecretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya said the distribution is now 70 percent complete and expressed confidence they can complete it on or before the new deadline on May 7.
DILG Secretary Eduardo Año on Thursday announced the extension of the SAP assistance distribution by seven days from April 30 in Metro Manila, Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, Cebu City and Davao City, while LGUs in other parts of the country were given a four-day extension.
Malaya said Metro Manila is only 40 percent complete in terms of SAP assistance distribution as of Sunday. He said Quezon City and Manila City are having difficulty paying out the subsidy due to their jurisdiction’s large population.
“NCR is having difficulty. Last night, they’re still paying out until 11 p.m. or 12 midnight. They have to work double time to meet the deadline imposed by Secretary Eduardo Año,” Malaya said in Filipino.
The top performers, Malaya said, are the Bicol and Mimorapa regions, which have distributed to about 80 percent of beneficiaries in their areas.
“Maliwanag po ang sinabi ni Secretary Año na walang extension (What Secretary Año said is clear, there will be no extension),” Malaya said.
Malaya said local government officials who will fail to complete the distribution on May 7 will be issued show-cause orders and if warranted, charges will be filed against them if their explanations are not acceptable.
Also, Malaya said local officials are now distributing the assistance simultaneously, doing away with the per barangay distribution, to hasten the process.
RELAXED AUDIT
Senate President Vicente Sotto III asked Malacañang to relax rules of auditing so that individuals not in the list of LGUs can be given also be get cash assistance.
Sotto said he has discussed with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea that cash assistance be given to all poor families and to take the budget for this from the first tranche of subsidy.
“Sabi ko throw the rules out of the window, kapag ganito na kailangan, nagugutom ang mga kababayan natin, tapos sabi ko kausapin ninyo muna si Chairman Aguinaldo ng COA, sabi ko huwag muna higpitan yung mga LGUs. (I said in times like this, we can throw the rules out of the window. Our countrymen are going hungry, and I told them to talk to Chairman [Michael Aguinaldo of the COA [Commission on Audit] to relax auditing rules for local government units),” Sotto said in an interview over radio dzBB.
Sotto last week hit LGUs for their slow distribution of SAP benefits to the targeted 18 million poorest of the poor and most vulnerable sectors of society. He said the delayed implementation of the national ID system was the main cause of the poor distribution of the assistance as LGUs had difficulties in reconciling their list of qualified beneficiaries. — With Victor Reyes and Raymond Africa
