House Deputy Minority leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said calls to investigate the allegedly anomalous 2020 “ayuda” distribution of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Starpay received a boost Thursday as “victims are now coming forward to complain.”
“We are now receiving reports of victims of Starpay and that they want the company to be investigated,” Zarate said in a statement.
In one case, Zarate said, a supposed beneficiary received a text message on July 11, 2020 with the following message: ‘Para makuha ang inyong ayuda mula sa DSWD, pumunta sa pinakamalapit na MLhuillier dala ang inyong valid ID at ref# SPC373C58EA2E sa 08/07/2020. Salamat po.”
“The victim went and fell in line for hours enduring rain and heat, but he was not able to get anything along with many others because their supposed Starpay reference numbers do not exist,” he said.
“So, they went on for months under lockdown without any ayuda. Some help only came in March and August when the Enhanced Community Quarantine was again declared and the Starpay app was no longer used,” Zarate added.
Zarate filed in August House Resolution 2146 “to investigate the alleged anomalous transactions and pandemic profiteering in the multi-billion distribution of the social amelioration program (SAP) by the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD).”
He appealed to the House leadership to act on the resolution.
“We are calling those with similar complaints against Starpay to come forward and help in the probe. We must find out where the money went and who really profited in these multi-billion transactions,” Zarate said.