and VICTOR REYES
SENATE President Vicente Sotto III on Sunday called on the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to publish in its website the names of individuals who have received the P5,000 to P8,000 cash aid under the Social Amelioration Program as provided for under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.
Sotto, who co-authored the Senate version of the law, said the publication will allow the public to counter-check if the individuals whose names appear on the list were really the ones who benefited from the cash aid and thus, erase speculations of irregularities in the distribution of the money.
“We have heard a lot of complaints that qualified beneficiaries were not able to receive the cash assistance approved by Congress under the Bayanihan Act. The question now is, who benefited from this program? Why is it that complaints have increased that up to now they have not received cash aids,” Sotto said in a statement.
“The DSWD has the master list of those who have already benefited from the SAP. It should make public the names of the recipients for the sake of transparency,” he added.
Sotto noted that in the latest report submitted by President Duterte to Congress in compliance with the requirements of he Bayanihan Law, it was only mentioned that the DSWD has disbursed P80 billion of the P100 billion allotted for the SAP for the month of April.
There were no details on the distribution of the assistance, such as the total number of recipients, covered areas and a breakdown of the amounts given to recipient barangays/local government units.
Sotto said the report is incomplete. It should say how the DSWD distributed the money, he said.
Aside from transparency, Sotto said public disclosure will allow lawmakers to identify loopholes or errors in the distribution system adopted by the DSWD. It will likewise show abuses, if any, committed by local and national social welfare executives, who are in charge of determining who are the qualified beneficiaries.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Sunday directed barangay officials to disclose the list of recipients of the SAP in their barangays to promote honest, transparent and orderly management of the funds.
“We want the process of identifying the target beneficiaries under the SAP to be transparent. Hence, we have directed all our punong barangays (barangay chairmen) to post the master list of beneficiaries in strategic areas in their barangays so that the residents will also be informed if they will receive the said financial assistance from the government,” said Año.
Año said the list should be posted at conspicuous places like barangay halls, city and municipal halls, social centers, gymnasiums, auditoriums, transport terminals, public markets, health stations or centers, and other public places.
FOR COVID-19 RESPONSE ONLY
Interior spokesman Jonathan Malaya reminded provincial governments that the P6.197-billion Bayanihan grant recently released to provinces should be used to augment requirements for provincial programs to address the coronavirus pandemic.
Malaya said the fund may be used to procure personal protective equipment, reagents, and COVID-19 testing kits, medicines, vitamins, and disinfectants. It may also be used for food, transportation, accommodation expenses of health workers and other personnel of provincial, district, and other hospitals operated by the province; construction/repair/lease/rental of facilities for COVID-19 patients and persons under monitoring; and training of hospital personnel, among others.
Malaya said the fund cannot be used for personal services expenditures like salaries and hazard pay; administrative expenses like office supplies, meetings, communication, water and electricity; and travel expenses – both foreign and domestic.
Año said governors should efficiently spend their funding.
“Time is of the essence in this time of crisis,” said Año of the need for the timely disbursement of the fund which is equivalent to one-half of the monthly internal revenue allotment of the provinces. The fund was approved to better equip LGUs in responding to the COVID-19 crisis and to attend to the needs of their constituents.
TANODS, HEALTH WORKERS
Malaya said families of barangay tanods (watchmen) and barangay health workers are now qualified to receive the DSWD cash assistance of P5,000 to P8,000.
“It is the appeal of this department that the nature of the appointment of barangay health workers and barangay tanods should not outrightly disqualify them from being included in the target beneficiaries under the SAP, particularly the emergency subsidy program,” he said.
Malaya said barangay watchmen and health workers are not regular employees, and they receive only allowances from the barangay at rates depending on the financial capability of the barangay.
“Therefore, since they only receive allowances, they are sub-minimum wage earners which refers to any person who earns a wage below the prescribed minimum wage,” said Malaya.
BANK FEES
Deputy speaker Mikee Romero of 1-Pacman party-list urged state-owned Land Bank to waive handling fees in the distribution of billions in financial aid to the poor under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.
Land Bank is handling the bulk of the P200 billion and the P101.1 billion allocated in this year’s national budget for the four million beneficiary-households of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, or 4Ps.
Romero said for the downloading of the P101.1-billion cash grants to 4Ps beneficiaries this year, the P162-billion DSWD budget includes P509 million in “bank service fees” that will mostly go to Land Bank.
“Based on this amount of bank service fees, we can safely assume that the cost of downloading the P100 billion in financial assistance under the Bayanihan law for this month is in the neighborhood of P500 million,” he added.
Romero pointed out that if Land Bank could waive its service charge only for the Bayanihan cash grants, it would mean that more poor families could be given financial aid, noting that P500 million would benefit an additional 100,000 poor households at P5,000 each.
He said Land Bank can afford to forego its handling fees for the emergency assistance since it would still be able to charge DSWD for the distribution of cash grants under 4Ps for this year.
“Besides, it is a commercial bank and it is making a lot of money from its commercial operations,” he said, noting that the state-owned bank reported net profits of P18 billion last year. — With Wendell Vigilia