The Interior department said Monday 183 barangay officials were now under investigation for alleged graft in the distribution of financial aid under the social amelioration program.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said following President Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement of a P30,000 reward for every confirmed incident of any barangay official involved in SAP aid distribution anomaly, complaints poured in at the DILG and Department of Social Welfare and Development hotlines, thus prompting the PNP-CIDG to probe the 183 barangay officials.
“Out of the many complaints we have received, 183 are under investigation by the police because they found probable cause,” Año said.
“Our police will not stop arresting these barangay officials who are plunderers and are considered viruses of society. the PNP are eager to do because they are also angry at corrupt local officials.”
Meanwhile, Malacañang said Monday local government units should complete the distribution of the first tranche of the emergency cash subsidies to the poor families even as the deadline had lapsed.
About 91 percent of the 18 million target beneficiaries received subsidies as of the deadline on Sunday night, the Interior department said.
"The distribution should continue until the DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development] recalls the excess funds," Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque told reporters.
"For the local government units that have yet to distribute 100 percent of the aid, our mandate is to continue the distribution until it is 100-percent completed.”
Año said the identities of the 183 barangay officials could not be disclosed yet as the investigations were still underway.
He said there were multiple complaints coming in and directed at the same barangay officials, leading to the piling up of the reports.
"There are a lot of complaints, but we are now sorting them out to pinpoint the cases that have basis, and for now we have 183 cases that are under investigation," Año said.
He said as early as the first week of May, the arrest of corrupt barangay officials began with the arrest of a barangay councilor from Hagonoy, Bulacan, who was personally mentioned by President Duterte in a public address.
Barangay captain Maria Luz Leal Ferrer of Barangay 8 in Isabela, Negros Occidental, was also charged by the PNP for alleged anomalies in the distribution of the government’s SAP financial aid.
Año said following an investigation by PNP Isabela, Ferrer was accused of falsifying the list of beneficiaries in her barangay. Reports and accounts from witnesses and the scrutiny of the alleged manipulated list of SAP beneficiaries also pointed to the suspect.
Mae Fajardo, a municipal social worker, was also arrested together with Ferrer for allegedly falsifying the official SAP recipient list.