P7.7-M worth of SAP assistance returned: DSWD

FILE: Personnel from the Parañaque City government distribute cash aid as part of the Social Amelioration Program to around 859 beneficiaries at the Tambo Elementary School on Monday (May 4, 2020). (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reported that unqualified Social Amelioration Program (SAP) recipients from Davao City returned some PHP7.734 million of the government’s financial assistance.

DSWD released Monday a partial list of the returned SAP aid that has only consisted of data from Davao City.

Some of the beneficiaries who returned the aid were later found to be not eligible while others received subsidies from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Social Security System (SSS), and/or TUPAD beneficiaries.

“The agency is strict on cross-matching its recipients to make sure that there will be no deduplication of government support programs,” DSWD spokesperson Irene Dumlao said in a media group.

As of May 28, the agency has reached 98 percent or 17.6 million of its 18 million target beneficiaries, releasing PHP99.3 billion from the PHP100 billion first tranche of financial aid released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Of this amount, some PHP18.3 billion was directly released to 4,222,925 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4P’s) beneficiaries who received the aid through their cash cards.

Meanwhile, PHP80.5 billion were disbursed to the local government units, which were distributed to 13,294,442 non-4P’s beneficiaries who qualified as among low-income families and were most heavily affected by the containment measures of the virus.

DSWD has also released PHP496.2 million to 62,028 Transport Network Vehicle Services and Public Utility Vehicle drivers in the National Capital Region who were hit by the suspension of mass transport.

2nd tranche pushed back

Meanwhile, the DSWD cited the lack of manpower of LGUs that caused several delays in the distribution.

DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista earlier announced that police and military officers will lead the distribution of the second tranche of the SAP aid, instead of the LGUs.

This after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered to hasten the distribution of the SAP for 23 million families belonging to the informal sector.

Five million waitlisted beneficiaries are to be included in the second tranche.

Under the SAP that was instituted by the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, low-income households will receive PHP5,000 to PHP8,000, depending on their region’s minimum wage.

The distribution started last March 28. It was targetted for completion by April 30.

However, LGUs have not submitted their liquidation reports to the DSWD yet.

As of May 28, the DILG reported that there are only 472 of 1,634 LGUs that submitted their reports.

In a media interview on Monday, Dumlao explained that the department would have to wait until all LGUs submit their liquidation before starting the distribution of the second wave of SAP aid so they can validate the beneficiaries and cross-match their names.

“Validation is performed to check the eligibility of the beneficiaries and to see if there were duplication in the provision of the aid from DSWD and other agencies that are required to implement separate assistance under SAP,” she said in a statement.

DSWD explained that it is aware of the needs of low-income Filipino families whose members still cannot work due to the community quarantine and that its goal is to immediately deliver the second tranche of SAP.

The department, however, said it is necessary to complete the validation process before the release of the second tranche of the assistance.