THE Department of Social Welfare and Development’s April 30 deadline for the completion of the distribution of the cash assistance to poor households under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) was unrealistic, according to at least two local government leaders.
These views were aired on Wednesday by Navotas City mayor Toby Tiangco and Benguet Gov. Melchor Diclas during an interview with Communications Secretary Martin Andanar on Malacañang’s “Laging Handa” briefing.
Tiangco enumerated three reasons for the delay, none of which was attributable to any local government unit.
“Honestly there is no way we can do all these by the 30th. Even before I signed the MOA [memorandum of agreement] I said the same thing to RD [DSWD-NCR regional director Vicente Gregorio] Tomas. He assured me, his exact words ‘hindi naman strictly susundin iyon (that will not be strictly enforced)’,” the mayor said.
Given the tight schedule set, absence of a workable system, and the need to double check the payout to beneficiaries, Tiangco said the deadline was simply not doable.
“From the start I knew it could not be done [within the timetable]. Firstly, when I asked the DSWD for the list… the one from the national targeting of poor families so we can take off from that, they could not produce it right away,” he pointed out.
He said the Navotas city government came up with its own system using a software to filter out families that declared income below P2,000, which coughed up a list of 10,281 households.
The software removed human intervention from the selection process but Tiangco admitted that there were still complaints, mainly about misrepresentation by the beneficiaries regarding their real income.
“Then number two, there was the distribution itself. If you faithfully observe social distancing, the job becomes too slow, regardless of our efforts. We likewise encountered difficulties getting the Department of Education to allow us to use the schools for distribution sites,” he added.
The mayor also raised the challenge of vetting the list after the money has been handed out to selected households.
“Number three, we agree with the DSWD that there was a need to interview the recipients even if they were on the list. That is the correct process so only those who are really qualified will receive the assistance,” he said.
Tiangco noted that, after on-site verification, they still discover unqualified families who passed the vetting process of the DSWD and the city government had to take back the cash stipend.
For his part, Diclas said that as of Wednesday, the provincial government had distributed the SAP cash assistance to some 85 percent of households on its list.
“We have already completed the distribution to the various municipalities. We have 14 municipalities and they are distributing this SAP, so hopefully by tomorrow, we can complete this,” he said.
However, in Benguet’s case the challenge is the distances involved coupled with the nature of the terrain.
“If we cannot finish it, it would be because of the topography… the distances involved. Those are our challenges in complying with SAP distribution in Benguet. More or less, we are at 70 to 80 percent as of now,” Diclas said.
On Tuesday, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has given local government units three days, or until Friday, to finish the distribution of the April cash aid.
NEW GUIDELINES
DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging and Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) is finalizing a new set of guidelines governing the release of the second tranche of the emergency cash aid under the SAP which may include those were “left out” in the April payout.
Bautista, during the Laging Handa network briefing, said a technical working group of the AITF had submitted its recommendations to the body, which included at least four options aimed at ensuring the continued and more efficient distribution of the SAP aid in May and the possible inclusion of those who are eligible for the aid but were not included in the April payout.
He said the options seek to identify and update the current list of SAP beneficiaries, as well as decide if the May payout would include all April payout beneficiaries regardless if they are in areas still under the ECQ or in areas already downgraded to general community quarantine (GCQ), or limit it to those in the ECQ.
Bautista said as of 8 pm of April 28, only P45.6 billion, or 45.61 percent, of the P100 billion SAP allocation for April had been distributed and already received by 8.7 million households, or 48.5 percent, of the targeted 18 million beneficiaries which include low income families, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries and public utility vehicle drivers who were unable to work during the lockdown in Luzon.
He said the DSWD, together with the DILG and LGUs have been expediting the distribution of the cash aid.
Roque, in a television interview, reiterated that sanctions will be meted against local officials who will fail to distribute the cash aid on time.
SMALLER AMOUT, MORE BENEFICIARIES
Imus, Cavite Mayor Emmanuel Maliksi suggested giving a smaller amount of SAP payout in May to benefit more people especially with the extension of the community quarantine until May 15.
Maliksi said instead of giving the whole P5,000 to P8,0000 aid, depending on the minimum wage rate per region, the DSWD can reduce the amount or divide it into a couple of beneficiaries.
He made the suggestion as some local government units had already depleted their budget after giving out cash aid to their constituents who were not part of the SAP beneficiaries.
He said LGUs have tried to match the amount given by DSWD in April to the SAP beneficiaries, but with the extension of the lockdown and the continued payout in May, some of them may no longer be able to provide cash aid to non-SAP beneficiaries.
RETURNED SAP AID
Bautista, meanwhile, said several SAP beneficiaries have returned the cash subsidy that they received despite being eligible for the emergency aid.
He said the returned amount along with any excess or undistributed SAP funds from the local government units will be liquidated and returned to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for proper disposition.
He said he will seek permission to allow the use of the returned and excess amount to provide cash aid to families who were excluded from the April payout.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año hailed the “honesty and compassion” of persons who have returned the cash aid they have received under the Sap for reasons such as double subsidy.
Año said he has “high respect and admiration” for people whose virtue prevailed even amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Dahil sa kanilang kabutihang-loob, pinili nilang ibalik ang tulong pinansyal para mapakinabangan ng ating kapwa Pilipinong nangangailangan (Because of their kindness, they chose to return the financial assistance so their fellow Filipinos can get aid),” he said.
There have been reports about residents returning their SAP assistance over the past days. One of them is Cesar Brillantes of Tabaco City who returned P5,000 to barangay San Carlos, where he formerly lived, because he already received a similar amount of assistance from barangay Basud where he currently lives with his wife and children.
There is also the case of one Jonathan Ballester of Barangay Tuburan, Ligao City in Albay who returned P5,000 to barangay officials because his wife, who was from another barangay, already got the SAP assistance.
The DILG also said six North Cotabato residents also returned SAP assistance for the same reason, among them Sheryln Manzanades of Barangay Poblacion 2 in Pigcawayan town.
Manzanades said she returned the aid because her husband, who was from barangay New Panay also in Pigcawayan, already received the assistance. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Victor Reyes
