INTERIOR Secretary Eduardo Año went soft on Wednesday and said he is open to extending deadline today, Thursday, on the distribution of the first tranche of the cash aid under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP).
Año’s statement was contrary to his stiff remarks on Tuesday that he was not keen on extending the seven-day extension that he gave to local executives of Metro Manila, Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, Cebu City and Davao City to complete the payout of the April tranche of the SAP financial subsidy.
During the inspection of the mega COVID-19 testing center in Taguig City, Año said around 850 of at least 1,500 local government units (LGUs) in the country have finished their distribution, adding that the National Capital Region continues to face a “big problem” due to its large population.
“We still have until tomorrow so let’s see what happens and we’ll look into those who failed to comply,” said Año.
Asked if there are discussions to extend the deadline, Año said: “Yes there is a possibility kasi what’s the use of stopping it kung meron pa rin hindi nakatanggap? (Yes, there is possibility because what’s the use of stopping it when there are still those who have yet to receive?),” he said.
Local executives had until April 30 to complete the distribution of the first tranche of the SAP cash assistance downloaded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
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 to finish their distribution, but on Tuesday, Año gave them another three days to finish their task.
Año said he wants to be cautious in giving show-cause orders to local executives. “I don’t want to just issue show- cause orders without looking at the real situation on the ground,” he said.
Año also said the distribution of the SAP assistance is a “team effort” between national and local government officials and it may not be right to put the blame to LGU officials if they fail to meet the deadline.
UPDATES
DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista said the government had already distributed P71.4 billion worth of cash subsidy to more than 13 million families under the SAP.
Bautista said the 3.03 million low-income families, which included beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), accounts for 72.3 percent of the targeted SAP beneficiaries nationwide. The data was completed at 8 p.m. of May 5.
Bautista said that of the P71.4 billion distributed, P54.23 billion was distributed to 9.16 million low income, non-4Ps beneficiaries of SAP; P16.35 billion to 3.72 million 4Ps cash card holders; and P410.13 million to 4PS non-cash card holders, among others.
He said 556 local government units had also been able to finish and complete its distribution of the cash aid to their constituents, of which 36 of them had already filed their liquidation reports.
Bautista reiterated that the national government is still finalizing the guidelines for the distribution of the SAP for May. He said it is still uncertain if all the April beneficiaries would also receive the May payout, especially those who are living in areas that had been downgraded to general community quarantine.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the Department of Labor and Employment has submitted its data with the DSWD to compare, determine and avoid a duplication of SAP beneficiaries.
He said the data include the names of those who had benefitted from DOLE’s one-time COVID-19 Adjustment Measure Program (CAMP) subsidy for formal workers who lost their job or income due to the lockdown.
It would be used to determine who should be included in the additional 5 million families that would be added to the current 18 million SAP beneficiaries.
HOUSE PROBE
The House of Representatives will investigate the delay in the distribution of the P200-billion financial aid to 18 million household beneficiaries targeted under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.
Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor, chair of the House committee on public accounts, said that after he raised the issue on the floor during the session last Monday, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano authorized the conduct of the inquiry “at the right time.”
The inquiry is in response to numerous complaints from lawmakers and local government officials about the delay in and the manner of distribution of the financial assistance, he said.
“We did our job in expeditiously passing the Bayanihan law and President Duterte did his job in promptly downloading the necessary funds but problems were encountered in the implementation of the financial aid program,” he said.
Defensor pointed out that the House would allow implementing agencies to finish their task before starting its investigation, which aims to prevent the occurrence of similar issues in the future.
“We have to have protocols for this. We cannot delay the support needed by our people. Other means such as electronic money transfer should be the standard to avoid contact”, Defensor said in reaction to the long lines and groupings of people queuing for financial assistance.
The call for a congressional probe was supported by majority leader Martin Romualdez and deputy speaker Mikee Romero.
Romero said he has been monitoring the distribution of assistance to hundreds of thousands of rice farmers and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and based on the SAP implementing agencies’ reports as of last week, a total of 311,162, or less than half of the 741,246 targeted beneficiaries, were still awaiting the cash aid due them.
He added that 591,246 rice farmers were to get P5,000 each from the Department of Agriculture, of whom only 266,284 have received the assistance.
Romero pointed out that as for displaced OFWs, of the 150,000 intended beneficiaries, only 44,878 got P10,000 each from the DOLE.
He said the two agencies have disbursed a total of P3.415 billion of their P4.5-billion budget for their farmer and OFW targets -P2.956 billion for rice farmers and P459 million for OFWs.
He noted that two weeks ago, the agriculture department reported handing out cash assistance to only 53,881 farmers, while the DOLE gave aid to 20,500 OFWs.
However, Romero said in the case of domestic formal-sector and informal-sector workers, the DOLE has served almost 84 percent of its 928,382 target beneficiaries. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Wendell Vigilia
