PRESIDENT Duterte late Monday night said the distribution of the government cash aid would have been faster and smoother if the national identification (ID) system was already in place.
“Kung may ID system lang tayo, we could have, naiwasan natin itong mga ito (If we had an ID system, we could have avoided this),” the President said referring to delays in the distribution of the government social amelioration program for low-income families and members of the vulnerable sector.
Duterte said the ID system would have been the “game changer” but lamented the opposition of left-leaning groups have caused a standstill in its implementation.
The President in 2018 signed the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys Act) which seeks to harmonize and integrate several government IDs by establishing a single national identification system.
The absence of a national database, which the national ID system could have provided, has delayed the distribution of the government’s monthly cash subsidy of P5,000 to P8,000 to some 18 million poor households for two months.
Some families have complained that they have yet to receive the cash aid while some said they are not included in the list of beneficiaries.
SENATE PROBE
Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday said he will push for an investigation into the delayed implementation of the national ID system once the Senate resumes regular sessions next month.
In a message to reporters, Sotto said the national ID system could have solved conflicting data on the identities of qualified recipients of the government’s Special Amelioration Program (SAP) cash aid.
The distribution of the SAP cash aid has been delayed due to differences in the lists of local government units (LGUs) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on who should be the recipients of the P5,000 to P8,000 assistance.
President Duterte had stripped LGUs the role of distributing the cash assistance and gave the DSWD sole authority to handle the distribution.
Sotto said the Senate probe will check reports that the implementation of the national ID system has been slowed down by “red tape.”
“Again at the risk of sounding like a broken record, we passed the national ID system almost two years ago yet it has not been implemented by government. Stop the red tape and proceed. The system should have been in place now if not for the red tape. I will urge the Senate to investigate why this is so when we resume,” Sotto said.
To hasten the implementation of the law, Sotto said the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) should do away with its scheme of having the people go to their city or municipal halls to have their biometrics taken.
Sotto said this can be done in partnership with the private sector. “Some other private partnerships thru PPP (private-public partnerships) are faster and better,” he said.
PATIENCE
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año appealed for more understanding and patience from those who have yet to receive the cash assistance.
“Yung mga hindi mabibigyan dahil sila ay hindi nakasama doon sa listahan na ‘yun (ng DSWD), magsa-submit naman ‘yung local government units ng listahan na hindi nakasama at ito ay ipa-process natin para mabigyan din (Those who were not given assistance because they are not in the [DSWD] list, the local government units will submit a list of those not included and we will process this so they will also be given assistance),” Año said.
Año assured qualified beneficiaries they will get their cash assistance within the month or next month.
Sotto reminded the DSWD and LGUs that the special amelioration assistance should be given per family, not per household, as what a number of LGUs have been doing.
Sotto said LGUs can use their calamity funds to give cash assistance to families not included in the DSWD list. He said the LGU can then inform the DSWD of the cash advances they made so that the executive department can be informed for them to be reimbursed at a later date.
FUND-RAISING
PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa on Tuesday announced the launching of the Team PNP Bayanihan Fund Challenge in the 205,000-strong police force which seeks to raise at least P200 million to support the SAP.
Gamboa said the project aims to raise funds from “individual voluntary contribution of PNP personnel” in response to President Duterte’s “candid admission of government’s extreme difficulty in providing the basic needs of the poorest of the poor in a prolonged crisis.”
As of Tuesday morning, Gamboa said the fund-raising drive has already generated P34 million “from star rank or top echelon officers and their staff whose number only comprised 20 percent of the total PNP strength.”
The PNP chief said leaders in the command group and directorial staff, police regional offices, national support units and star-ranked officers have committed 50 percent of their base pay for next month.
He appealed to regional directors and heads of national support units “to lead this challenge project in their respective AORs (areas of responsibility).”
“I must emphasize that the Bayanihan Fund Challenge is strictly voluntary with no standard amount of contribution specified. The project does not authorize automatic salary deduction, or the use of funds sourced from PNP appropriations,” said Gamboa.
Gamboa also urged rank groups, sectors, associations, classes, and organizations in the PNP to also give their share to the fund drive
.He said PNP directorate for comptrollership will craft the implementing guidelines for the turnover of the collected funds to the National Treasure or to any government agency “to ensure transparency and accountability.”
Gamboa said the policemen can afford to contribute to the fund-raising drive, noting that “we have already secured the means for our own personnel.”
He was referring to the benefits the PNP received, including the P500 daily hazard pay, suspension of collection of loan amortization for April, and P5,000 in financial assistance from the Public Safety Mutual Benefits Fund Inc.
“We feel really blessed to be rewarded with all these benefits. We can only be too grateful to give back by way of our dedicated service and expression of compassion in reaching out to the poorest of poor who are hardest hit by the socio-economic impact of this crisis,” he said. — With Raymond Africa and Victor Reyes
