Government seeks list of families not given cash aid

MANILA, Philippines — Local government units may submit a list of all qualified beneficiaries who did not receive assistance from the emergency subsidy budget approved by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

DSWD spokesperson Irene Dumlao said they would validate and review the lists of beneficiaries submitted by the local government units who were not covered by the original target that the department had set.

“If the beneficiaries are indeed eligible, we will present and discuss this with our economic managers for planning purposes,” she said.

Several local officials have complained that the slots allotted to them by the DSWD for the emergency subsidy program were not enough to cover all of the qualified beneficiaries in towns and cities in Metro Manila and other provinces.

The Metro Manila Council last week approved a resolution urging the national government to reinstate the number of target beneficiaries in all local government units in the National Capital Region.

Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan said the list of 400,000 qualified households provided by the city government was trimmed down to 200,000 due to budgetary constraints.

In Valenzuela City, only 95,000 households could be granted cash aid out of the 155,000 households.

Malabon Mayor Antolin Oreta III said only 44,032 families of the city’s 86,000 households could benefit from the amelioration program.

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said they were only allotted 377,000 slots, but the city government earlier identified over 750,000 families needing food packs due to the enhanced community quarantine.

Antipolo City Mayor Jun-Andeng Ynares said the DSWD only allotted 89,193 forms in the city despite having an estimated 155,000 households.

In Laguna, Biñan Mayor Walfredo Dimaguila Jr. appealed to the DSWD to increase the 48,121 allotted slots to cover more than 120,000 households.

In Bustos, Bulacan, officials appealed for understanding as only 8,000 slots were allocated out of the 23,000 households in the municipality.

The DSWD earlier said that photocopying forms to accommodate more beneficiaries is not allowed.

Local government units will receive barcoded forms with control numbers, which should be filled out by qualified beneficiaries as determined by local officials.