Palace: Government may stop SAP in GCQ areas

MANILA, Philippines — Residents in areas under the more lenient general community quarantine (GCQ) may no longer receive the second tranche of the government’s social amelioration program (SAP), Malacañang said yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said this is because those in areas that have shifted to GCQ are now allowed to return to work.

“There is no final decision yet, but it seems that we are leaning towards that because we have opened the economy in areas under GCQ and people in GCQ areas can return to work,” Roque said at a press briefing.

“That is not yet final, but it is possible because we have increased the number of SAP beneficiaries. It is now 23 million (households) instead of 18 (million) so of course the superseding event is many of our countrymen under GCQ can now work,” he added.

Areas that will remain under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) until May 15 are Metro Manila, Central Luzon (except Aurora province), Calabarzon, Pangasinan, Benguet, Iloilo including Iloilo City, Cebu including Cebu City, Bacolod City and Davao City.

Malacañang, through Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, has also approved the recommendation of the government’s coronavirus task force to include Albay province and Zamboanga City in the list of areas under ECQ until May 15.

Roque said the President would decide on how the second tranche of emergency subsidies would be distributed.

The government is spending P200 billion to help 18 million households sidelined by the enhanced community quarantine, a stringent measure implemented to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The administration has decided to increase the number of beneficiaries by five million households.

“The DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) has guidelines and has an appeals procedure. So perhaps the DSWD will look at the families who were rejected when they were deciding on the 18 million families (who would be given aid),” Roque said.

“We will wait for the decision of the President on the second tranche but I can assure you that the aid to be given to the additional five million families is within the budget given to Congress for the SAP,” he added.

Asked whether there would be changes in the seven-day extension given to local governments to complete the distribution of aid, Roque replied: “Well, definitely because of the additional five million families.”

Local governments were supposed to complete the distribution of the first tranche of SAP last April 30. The national government has given a seven-day extension to local executives of Metro Manila, Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, Cebu City and Davao City because of the high number of beneficiaries in their areas.

Roque said they are still expecting complaints despite the expansion of aid beneficiaries.

“There will be people who will complain they did not receive help. But of course, the budget is limited but I think the five million increase... is a big percentage in terms of additional families that received aid,” he said.

“We have to go beyond finger pointing, what is important is aid should reach our countrymen and that is the appeal of the President. Let’s do everything, subject to the limitation that there should be social distancing, to distribute the aid,” he added.

Roque said the government’s coronavirus task force has also approved the request of some local governments for sweeper flights. He said the flights would allow stranded people to return to their respective areas.

Include barangay officials in SAP

Because barangay officials are receiving only an honorarium and not a fixed salary, the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) urged the DSWD yesterday to consider barangay chiefs among the SAP beneficiaries.

LPP president and Marinduque Gov. Presbitero Velaso Jr. said the barangay officials including the chairman, councilors, members of the katarungan pambarangay or barangay justice system and other officers are among the government’s frontliners in the campaign against COVID-19 and are helping out in the distribution of relief goods as well as in maintaining peace and order in their jurisdictions.

Velasco told dzBB that it is possible that higher government officials have thought that barangay officials have fixed salaries, thus disqualifying them from the cash aid program.

The government has earmarked a budget P200 billion for the SAP covering about 18 million low-income families affected by the lack of economic activity as a result of the pandemic. Each beneficiary could receive P5,000 to P8,000 in cash aid.

Meanwhile, lawyer Terry Ridon of InfraWatch PH said he has submitted at least 50 appeals through the DSWD’s grievance redress system so other poor families could be included in the SAP.

His group, he said, responded to the President’s call last week to help low income families that have not yet received any cash aid during the coronavirus crisis.

“The appeals are based on facts that these families are actually qualified under SAP rules, but were disqualified for various reasons.  These include disqualifying unregistered voters in an area, senior citizens too weak to sign up at the barangay halls, solo parents failing to get IDs in time, lactating mothers that lost their ultrasound reports, distressed OFWs staying in agency apartments. All of these are qualified SAP cases but never found their way to the beneficiary list,” said Ridon, Duterte’s former urban poor chief. – With Emmanuel Tupas, Romina Cabrera, Rainier Allan Ronda, Rhodina Villanueva