THE Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Sunday said only 88 percent of local government units (LGUs) were able to complete the distribution of the April tranche of the government’s cash assistance under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP).
Interior Undersecretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya said local government officials had until Sunday to complete the distribution to poor households.
“Our latest data nationwide, as of 9 p.m. last night (Saturday night), it was at 88.43 percent,” Malaya said on the completion rate of the April payout.
Malaya said 1,193 out of the 1,634 LGUs throughout the country completed their SAP distribution.
Malaya said the DILG is no longer extending the deadline, which lapsed last Friday (May 8). 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 May 4 to finish the job but were later given another three-day extension.
On May 6, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año gave another three-day extension, or until May 10, to all LGUs to complete the distribution. He said LGUs who will fail to complete the payout will be given show-cause orders.
Malaya said the distribution of the May tranche of the assistance depends on how fast the LGUs can liquidate the funds and the speed of the validation by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Malaya said the DSWD has agreed to use electronic means to distribute the second tranche of SAP assistance to hasten the distribution process. “The DSWD is now preparing the guidelines for the guidance of the various local government units,” he said.
DSWD
The DSWD’s distribution completion rate was lower at 85 percent, or an estimated 15 million out of the 18 million targeted low-income families nationwide.
DSWS spokeswoman Irene Dumlao, in a radio interview, said the data was as of 8 p.m. of May 9, which was expected to go up as LGUs continue to distribute the financial assistance.
Among those that already received the SAP funds are 3.9 million 4Ps beneficiaries (which account for P17 billion) and 11.2 million low income, non-4Ps beneficiaries (P67.7 billion).
Under the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act, some 18 million low-income households, which include Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries, low-income families and families of informal sector workers, among others, are to receive emergency cash subsidies of P5,000 to P8,000 — depending on the minimum wage per region — for the months of April and May.
Once the LGUs complete the distribution, they are expected to submit their liquidation within 15 days to enable the DSWD to evaluate the April report and ready the downloading of SAP funds for May. Cash subsidies that were not distributed by May 10 must be returned to the DSWD along with the liquidation reports.
Dumlao said the beneficiaries of the first tranche of the SAP will also be included in the second tranche in May.
He added that that families of overseas Filipinos in distress are among the targeted SAP beneficiaries.
Under the SAP guidelines, overseas Filipinos are considered as vulnerable members of the community and among the most affected by the enhanced community quarantine. The families of overseas Filipinos who were repatriated, who have no income or remittance due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), were banned from traveling outside the Philippines or stranded due to the pandemic since January 2020, are eligible for the SAP.
Those who have availed themselves of financial assistance for displaced land-based and sea-based Filipino workers due to COVID-19 of the Department of Labor and Employment are no longer eligible for SAP aid to avoid duplication of assistance.
ANOMALIES
The Quezon City government has started investigating barangay officials and employees allegedly involved in irregularities in the distribution of the SAP cash assistance.
QC Mayor Joy Belmonte ordered the investigation against the people “who allegedly abused their power or neglected their duties in the implementation of the DSWD Social Amelioration Program or SAP.”
“This comes after the city received numerous complaints ranging from the illegal replication of SAP forms, the deprivation of SAP forms to qualified beneficiaries in favor of preferred but unqualified recipients or relatives, the illegal deduction of ‘processing fees’, ‘donations’ and ‘membership dues’ from cash aid, and the redistribution of cash aid to several beneficiaries after the scheduled payout,” she said in a statement.
She said the city’s legal department will issue show-cause orders against the barangay officials and employees.
INFORMAL SECTOR
Close to a million informal sector workers are being eyed by the Department of Labor and Employment to help in the government’s post-COVID-19 crisis programs.
In a statement, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said that about 962,000 informal sector workers are set to be hired under the emergency employment program or Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Displaced/Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD).
“This post-COVID-19 intervention measure aims to help informal sector workers recover from economic displacement and loss of income following a countrywide quarantine to arrest the spread of the virus,” said Bello.
He said majority, or more than 540,000, of the target TUPAD beneficiaries are those who were not accommodated in the TUPAD – Barangay Ko, Bahay Ko (BKBK) program implemented right after the imposition of the ECQ in Luzon.
But unlike the TUPAD-BKBK, worker-beneficiaries will be tasked in helping LGUs in the delivery of essential goods and services, like personal hygiene materials, medicines, and personal protective equipment for front liners and the general public.
They will also be tasked to assist in packing relief goods and other jobs to be determined by the LGUs, transport services for frontline workers, set up mobile markets, and in the sanitation and disinfection of communities.
The labor chief said the emergency employment program is set to commence this month and will run until June in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ).
Under TUPAD, beneficiaries will be hired for 10 days and get paid with the prevailing minimum wage in their respective regions.
Earlier, the DOLE implemented the TUPAD-BKBK program, wherein beneficiaries were hired for 10 days of disinfection and sanitation work of their own dwellings and its immediate vicinity.
The TUPAD-BKBK program had benefited more than 337,000 informal sector workers, who received minimum wages. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Gerard Naval
