The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will hold accountable all barangay officials in Iloilo City who are found to be taking cuts from the cash aid of Ilonggo beneficiaries of the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS).
Assistant Secretary for Regional Operations Paul Ledesma, who leads the special fact-finding team, assured the public of the DSWD’s commitment to give justice to the affected beneficiaries.
“We are very serious about this. The people have suffered enough— biktima na ‘yan, bibiktimahin mo ulit. Tapos ngayon kung ano ba, i-threaten mo pa. Parang sobra na,” Ledesma said in a statement on Wednesday.
(The people have suffered enough— that’s a victim already, you will victimize them again. And now you will threaten them, that is too much.)
Ledesma has recommended that future payouts should include mandatory orientations to inform beneficiaries of the exact amount they should receive and to reinforce that no barangay official has the authority to take any portion of the aid.
“I think that’s one recommendation we’ll give, that every time we give payout, the DSWD must first conduct an assessment, like interview them, or some sort of orientation: What’s this program? What is this for? It’s for you. This is not for your barangay, this is not for your barangay officials to share, or for any other reason. It’s personally for you,” the Assistant Secretary said.
The DSWD’s fact-finding team managed to confirm that at least 27 beneficiaries only received P2,000 each from the actual amount of P10,000 cash aid under the AICS program.
The barangay officials allegedly took P8,000, or 80 per cent of the amount intended for beneficiaries.
Ledesma said he is recommending to DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian that the off-site AICS payouts be suspended in barangays where most anomalies occur.
“There is no official order or document stating that na pinapatigil. I just said there na it will be one of my recommendations na temporarily we’ll put a stop to this since there are anomalies until we resolve this,” Ledesma said.
Ledesma noted that payouts conducted inside DSWD’s Field Offices (FOs) or controlled distribution sites remain ongoing and problem-free.
Initial findings showed that the incidents in Barangays Quintin Salas and Jaro in Iloilo City were not isolated.
Reports from Iloilo, Capiz, and nearby provinces indicated that barangay-level deductions may have been happening quietly for years.
“It has been going on in almost all our payouts since the pandemic, and it’s not only in Iloilo, I received reports there na meron sa Capiz, may mga province din. So, in short, it’s kind of widespread,” Ledesma said.
Since Gatchalian gave the fact-finding committee a 30-day deadline, four solid cases have been presented during the first five days of the committee’s investigation, which began last November 20.
The fact-finding team has documented initial complaints involving nine barangays and 13 barangay officials, with more complainants expected to come forward once initial cases are filed.
The anomaly involves intimidation by barangay officials, in which beneficiaries are allegedly threatened with consequences if they cooperate with investigators or the media, and some are told that future assistance will be withheld if they report the incident.
