The Department of Social Welfare and Development has intensified its validation efforts after it found 22,000 “duplicate beneficiaries” on the list of recipients of the government’s Social Amelioration Program or SAP.
This coincided with what Speaker Alan Cayetano said as the House of Representatives would find ways to a better, smoother system of distributing financial aid under the government’s SAP.
Cayetano said the ongoing congressional inquiry into the distribution by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and other agencies of P100 billion in SAP aid last month was expected to come up with a better policy to effect such.
DSWD Undersecretary Rene Paje told the Laging Handa public briefing the Department had informed the local government units (LGUs) for action on whether to take back or record the names of the duplicate beneficiaries.
The House committee on good government and public accountability chaired by Bulacan Rep. Jose Antonio Sy-Alvarado and the committee on public accounts led by Rep. Mike Defensor of Anakalusugan will conduct the inquiry starting on Monday.
“This is not to point fingers, but to find a better way of delivering the social amelioration and other benefits to our people,” Cayetano said.
READ: Solons vow better SAP bill, distribution
“People are tired of hearing statements like ‘The national ID should have been fully implemented for faster aid distribution,’ or ‘The SAC (social amelioration card) forms should have been distributed house-to-house’,” he said.
Cayetano said the House would ask DSWD officials on “what their plans are, if, God forbids, a lockdown is imposed again, if they can distribute aid efficiently.”
He added he saw some SAP implementers texting people and asking if they were qualified to receive aid.
“But that was the intention in giving the SAC forms house-to-house, isn’t it? So, all of these issues have to be ventilated in the inquiry for the purpose of coming up with a better system,” he stressed.
Cayetano recalled that before Congress approved the Bayanihan Law last March 23, agencies promised to distribute the first tranche of P100 billion “in 10 days.”
“But what happened? The distribution for April was finished in May. They told us that P200 billion was needed to help 18 million poor and near-poor families: P100 billion for April and P100 billion for May,” Cayetano said.
He reminded officials of President Rodrigo Duterte’s mantra: “Don’t let the people wait, deliver service promptly.”
“He always tells us: no red tape, no corruption,” he said.
Cayetano thanked his colleagues and other officials “who took the extra mile and really showed their leadership during this time of pandemic.”
He told SAP implementers: “We need to work together. We are your allies, we will work with you. But let me also make it clear: do not confuse our kindness with weakness.”