The House of Representatives will launch an inquiry into the confusion and delays that marred the distribution of cash and other government assistance by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, who filed a House resolution seeking an inquiry, said some of the problems in implementing the Bayanihan to Heal as One law were understandable. But he also said “there were problems in the implementation that are inexcusable.”
“There is no question that we are here to support the efforts of those agencies tasked to implement the program. But we also have to do what is right and demand accountability for the failures and delays that have plagued the distribution from the start," Cayetano said.
Cayetano earlier raised the issue in his speech before the adjournment of the First Regular Session last June 5.
This “inexcusable” delay in the distribution of aid, the resolution noted, is “contrary to the general principle espoused by President Rodrigo Duterte that the most vulnerable Filipinos shall get the resources at the fastest possible time with the least number of requirements and regulations.”
Through the resolution, Cayetano said Congress will be able to look into the DSWD’s “lengthy and complicated procedure” for the distribution of the SAP (social amelioration program) benefits, which requires a total of 30 steps and fivelayers of approval, with an estimated completion time of three weeks.
Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act”, an emergency subsidy amounting to a minimum of P5,000 to a maximum of P8,000 per month will be provided to 18 million low income households for two months. However, distribution for the second tranche of assistance to the beneficiaries has yet to be completed.
Cayetano’s resolution enumerates a number of issues and concerns, which may have caused the DSWD to miss several critical distribution deadlines, as well as causing the delay in the release of the second tranche of aid for beneficiaries intended for May to June.
“The DSWD arbitrarily and without consultations with the LGUs, based the number of recipients on the 2015 national census, slightly adjusted upwards. Five years have passed and certainly, the population has increased since, and thus the estimate proved inadequate,” the resolution reads.
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An official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Tuesday said about 4.2 million families would be prioritized in the distribution of the second tranche of the government's SAP.
In a Laging Handa briefing, DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said they have identified the heads of the families that are waitlisted and were left out of the first tranche of the emergency subsidy program.
“Through our coordination with the DSWD, we have gathered the contact details and names of the heads of the households who were waitlisted and left out. Based on our latest data, we have around 4.2 million families," he said in Filipino.
He added that they are expecting to finish the distribution of the second tranche of SAP by June 23.
“The DSWD will have a pilot distribution in Benguet in Cordillera Administrative Region, that's the start and it will continue until June 23," Malaya said.
READ: Palace assures distribution of second cash aid
Malaya said the cash aid will be distributed either manually or electronically.
In a manual payout, the DSWD would personally give the aid to the families who have no access to the internet to register for the automatic way of distribution, or with no bank account number and smart phones.
The second tranche of SAP will be given to the entitled beneficiaries in the following areas—National Capital Region, Central Luzon (except Aurora), Calabarzon, Benguet, Pangasinan, Iloilo Province, Cebu Province, Bacolod, Davao City, Albay Province, and Zamboanga City.
SAP, the national government’s P200-billion program, grants monthly emergency subsidy ranging from PHP5,000 to PHP8,000 to poor families affected by COVID-19 for April and May.
Around P100 billion haS already been released for the first phase of SAP. With PNA