The Department of Social Welfare and Development had released P40 billion of the P100 billion in aid to the poorest households under the 4Ps program who have been affected by the Luzon-wide lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of the released amount, P341 million went to low-income families that are not 4Ps beneficiaries, P323 million went to public utility drivers, and the rest went to 4Ps beneficiaries, the department’s spokesperson Irene Dumlao said.
At a briefing Monday, Dumlao said more beneficiaries would receive their social amelioration and emergency subsidies as payouts by the DSWD field offices and local governments continue.
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The social amelioration assistance is aimed at 18 million low-income families affected by the Luzon-wide lockdown that banned mass transport and mass gatherings, resulting in work stoppages in many industries.
The social amelioration aid was worth P5,000 to P8,000 a month per family, depending on the region’s minimum wage rate.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III, meanwhile, rejected proposals to halve the cash aid for poor families during the COVID-19 crisis, saying the government has enough funds to include more beneficiaries in the emergency subsidy program.
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He said claims that the government did not have enough money to support the payments were untrue.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Monday the DSWD was working to resolve problems in the distribution of benefits to poor families, and was expected to complete the distribution of the first of two tranches of cash aid by next week.
Nograles said among the concerns being resolved are security, the reconciliation of lists of beneficiaries, and logistical challenges especially with regard to remote communities in the provinces.
“They are continuously coordinating with the local government units to address these concerns,” Nograles said.
“We would like to apologize to those who are waiting for the subsidies. We assure you that we are doing everything we can to distribute them as soon as possible,” he said.
Nograles assured the public that the target beneficiaries of the social amelioration program will receive the right amount of benefits.
“We also assure them that the subsidies will not be deducted and will be delivered to you without any hassle,” he said.
DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista said that some local governments prioritized indigenous people and residents of far-flung barangays in distributing the cash aid.
“Around 377,000 vulnerable families have received the cash aid so far. We are targeting that after two weeks, we can give the first tranche of the social amelioration cash assistance,” Bautista said.
According to Bautista, the agency has released more than P323 million for 14,418 beneficiaries that belong to drivers and transport groups in the National Capital Region (NCR). It has also transferred P43 billion to LGUs and P800 million to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Bautista had earlier said they did not have any problem distributing the subsidy to members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) because they already have a credible list of recipients. However, he said the DSWD encountered a problem for the other beneficiaries.
Mayors in Metro Manila appealed to the national government to consider using the local government’s original lists of beneficiaries in the distribution of social amelioration packages (SAP) in the National Capital Region.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority spokesperson Assistant Secretary Pircelyn Pialago said members of the Metro Manila Council were asking the DSWD and the Department of Finance to use their lists of SAP target beneficiaries.
Those lists were halved after an assessment made by the DSWD.
The MMC, composed of the 17 mayors and other local executives in the NCR, is the governing board and the policy-making body of the MMDA.
On April 6, the MMC signed and issued a resolution urging the DSWD-NCR and the Department of Finance to reinstate the original numbers of target beneficiaries of the 17 local government units in the interest of “preserving public order, public safety and public health.”
On Sunday, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto also said only 93,000 out of the more than 206,000 beneficiaries that the city government listed for the said program were approved to receive the package.
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SAP is the government’s financial assistance intended to help poor Filipinos recover from the lockdown imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government has started distributing up to P16,000 in two months to 18 million low-income families nationwide with a budget of P200 billion.
The 18 million target beneficiaries of DSWD and DOF were based on a 2015 census.
The Department of Budget and Management said it has released P30.8 billion to finance the one-time financial assistance to cities and municipalities.
The department said funds that have not been used after the state of calamity would revert to the National Treasury.
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