LOCAL government units (LGUs) have three more days, or until Sunday, to finish the distribution of the April tranche of the Social Amelioration Program cash assistance.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año gave the third three-day extension on Thursday after local executives still failed to complete the payout of the P5,000 to P8,000 subsidy intended for low income families and those from vulnerable sectors.
“This is the last extension that we will grant to the LGUs. Our people cannot wait any longer,” said Año of the distribution of funds which were downloaded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as early as the first week of April.
Año said only 985 out of the 1,634 LGUs in the country were already able to complete the distribution as of 8 p.m. Wednesday. The DSWD, on the other hand, said only 637 had completed their disbursement, with 58 of them already compliant with the submission of their liquidation reports.
Año said the League of Cities of the Philippines, League of Municipalities of the Philippines and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority requested for the additional three days to complete the payout.
“We have received reports from our field offices na kahit na 24/7 ang pamimigay ng ayuda ay mahihirapan talagang ma-meet ng LGUs ang May 7 deadline lalo na ‘yung mga nasa Metro Manila (We have received reports from our field offices that despite of their 24/7 efforts to distribute the assistance, the LGUs are really having difficulty meeting the May 7 deadline, especially those in Metro Manila),” he also said.
“We are therefore giving them until May 10 para ma-kompleto lahat ‘yan (We are therefore giving them until May 10 to complete all these,” Año said, referring to the assistance distribution.
Local chief executives were initially given until April 30 to complete the distribution of the first tranche of the assistance.
As the April 30 deadline approached, Metro Manila, Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, Cebu City and Davao City were given a seven-day extension or until May 7. Other LGUs were given until last Monday (May 4) to finish the job but were subsequently given three more days.
DILG undersecretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya said they expected the payout rate to increase to 80 percent by the end of Thursday. “That means that for every 10 low income families, eight would have received their emergency subsidy by the end of the day today. That is a good number,” said Malaya.
Año said he has asked the PNP to exempt from curfew coverage the beneficiaries going to payout points “because our LGUs are really working overtime” to complete the distribution.
“And I am confident that within today up to midnight (of Thursday), many LGUs should be able to complete the payout except for Metro Manila because Metro Manila is really populous and we have to give them some additional days,” he said.
Año said the download of the second tranche of the SAP assistance to the LGUs will depend on the speed of the liquidation of the first tranche of assistance, which he said might take 15 days.
THREATS
DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista said the DILG and law enforcement groups are now tracing the sources of threats and intimidation that some social welfare field officers and volunteers have received in connection with the disappointment of some sectors with the implementation of the SAP.
Bautista, in the Laging Handa network briefing, said several local social welfare and development officers and volunteers have been subjected to insults, ridicule and verbal abuse, while others have even received threats and were harassed through text and calls mostly by people who were unhappy with the SAP implementation.
He said the text messages and calls are now being traced by the DILG, along with the armed forces and the police. Charges will be filed against those behind the threats, he added.
He reiterated that the DSWD had been working with the DILG in providing additional security and ensuring the well- being of field officers involved in the distribution of the emergency cash subsidy under the SAP.
Bautista made the pronouncement after Surigao Del Norte Governor Francisco Matugas assured him that his office will provide legal aid to a DSWD officer who was allegedly harassed by a local resident who supposedly even attempted to attack and kill the social worker.
Matugas said the incident happened in San Isidro town where a senior citizen complained that he was not included in list of SAP beneficiaries. The complainant, according to reports, placed a roadblock in the street where the DSWD officer was supposed to pass and attempted to hurt her but was arrested and prevented from doing harm.
Matugas said the offender and his relatives had even gone to a local radio station to complain and turned the tables on the social worker officer.
In a news report that came out, the senior citizen was supposedly arrested for violation of the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act. The report indicated that the offender was reportedly loudly complaining in their barangay about his non-inclusion in the SAP list and the hunger that his family was already suffering from.
Bautista said the field officer concerned had been provided with security to help her return to her field job.
DISTRIBUTION
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, in a briefing in Malacañang, said the government had already completed 75 percent of the SAP distribution and the concerned agencies are doubling their efforts to complete the April disbursement.
Based on DSWD data, this referred to the P75.3 billion of the P100 billion SAP fund for April that had already been distributed 13.7 million or 75.5 percent of the 18 million low income families, including the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries.
DSWD Undersecretary Gen Paje, in a briefing, said, part of the P75.3 billion went to 3.85 million 4Ps beneficiaries (P16.9 billion) and 40,418 public utility drivers from Metro Manila families (P323.3 million).
It also included the 9.758 million low income non-4Ps families who received their SAP shares through the local government units.
Paje said they expect the local government units to complete the distribution of the SAP following the DILG announcement of the extension of the deadline for distribution until May 10.
A total of P58.1 billion, of the P81.2 billion downloaded to the LGUs for the non-4Ps had already been distributed to the intended SAP beneficiaries.
ACCOMPLISHED
Mayors of Ormoc City and the municipal government of Malay, Aklan said they have completed the distribution of the cash assistance to their constituents.
Ormoc mayor Richard Gomez, appearing at “Laging Handa” public briefing, said city government personnel finished the pay out of SAP allowances to more than 32,000 poor households on May 6.
“What we did was to require all claimants to have their completed forms and identification documents ready beforehand. That way, by the time they step before the DSWD window, the process is smooth and fast,” he said.
The process includes verification in the list, checking of the valid ID, taking of pictures and the handing of the cash aid.
“The whole thing took us probably less than a minute per person. The claimants left happy with their P5,000 government assistance,” the mayor added.
Malay, Aklan acting mayor Frolibar Bautista said the municipality is on target to complete the distribution to SAP allowances to 6,922 recipient families by the end of office hours of Thursday.
“As of May 4, we have released to 5,795 families leaving a variance of 1,027 households which we have been serving in the last few days. We are on schedule to complete the payout of the cash allocations within the day,” he said.
Gomez announced that Ormoc City remains COVID-free even if major parts of the country have been grappling with the problem of keeping the rate of infection under control for the past two months under an enhanced community quarantine.
“We acted early. By March 13, we already had our borders virtually locked down allowing through only deliveries of food and other supply of goods in addition to non-residents of the city who have to work here. That made a big difference for us,” the Mayor said
Based on that experience, Gomez said he recommends that no nonsense border control must be implemented. He said also crucial was the cooperation of city people who took it upon themselves to be vigilant in watching the safety of their community by reporting the few who were able to get past through the checkpoints.
He added that high police visibility during the lockdown period ensured strict compliance by even the few city residents who would otherwise have flouted the rules.
Likewise important, he said, was the assurance that the people of Ormoc received particularly in the sufficient supply of food during the lockdown.
“One the quarantine was declared, we directed all barangays to tap their own disaster funds to start immediate assistance. They managed to give away three to five kilos of rice and a few canned goods. We followed it within a week with the distribution of one sack of rice for each home — all 63,000 in 110 barangays of the city,” he said.
The arrival of the SAP for additional assistance made sure the supply of food and other necessities do not spawn another problem for the city government.
For Malay, Aklan the problem is sending home tourists from the island resort of Boracay who were caught flat-footed by the imposition of the lockdown and cancellation of outbound flights.
“As of today, we have assisted 1,128 tourists to get to their homes through what we call sweeper flights. In addition, we have 145 domestic tourists who just surfaced the other day seeking to go home as well,” Bautista said.
For the understaffed municipal government, coordinating with the respective embassies and related agencies like the Department of Tourism, has become a daily staple.
“Sometimes we receive unexpected requests to help coordinate for sweeper flights. Some of these people ended up as far away as Iloilo where their tourist bus took them. We are still trying to locate a few stragglers. Unless they come forward to ask for help, we have no idea where they are holed up,” he said. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Peter Tabingo
