DSWD uncovers 51,563 duplicate aid beneficiaries

FILE: The local government of General Trias, Cavite distributes PHP6,500 cash assistance under the Social Amelioration Program of the government to some 1,400 resident-beneficiaries of Barangay Santiago on Thursday (May 7, 2020). (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has found more beneficiaries of the social amelioration program (SAP) who also received financial assistance from other government agencies, stressing the importance of strict validation processes.

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rolando Bautista announced Monday during a Laging Handa press briefing that the figure has climbed to 51,563 from the previously reported 22,000.

“The validation process that the DSWD Central Office implements showed these duplicate beneficiaries,” he said.

Last week, DSWD Undersecretary Glen Rene Paje said during DSWD’s “uSAP Tayo” video conference that the results prove the importance of the process of verifying cash aid claims.

Validation is performed to check the eligibility of the beneficiaries and to see if there was duplication in the provision of the aid from DSWD and other agencies that are required to implement separate assistance under SAP.

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 announcement of these duplicate beneficiaries has coincided with House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano’s call to probe the delays of the SAP distribution.

Congress filed House Resolution 973 to investigate, review and assess the implementation of SAP as part of the government’s coronavirus response.

A copy was sent to the media on June 16.

Cayetano said the initially prescribed procedure of the DSWD for the distribution of the SAP benefits was “lengthy and complicated”, which required “a total of thirty steps and five layers of approval, with an estimated completion time of three weeks.”

DSWD Undersecretary Danilo Pamonag, in a House hearing Tuesday, said the delay caused by the validation process was further amplified by the grievances received from waitlisted families.

“Given the novelty of this emergency, accompanied by the need for immediate action on the part of the government, the enactment of the social amelioration program is not without challenges,” Pamonag said.