183 barangay execs face cash aid probe

MANILA, Philippines — Criminal charges for corruption are being readied by the police against 183 barangay officials in connection with the distribution of emergency cash assistance under the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP) amid the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said yesterday the barangay officials are being questioned for discrepancies in the disbursement of cash assistance in their jurisdictions.

The Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) is spearheading the probe.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said President Duterte’s announcement of a P30,000 reward for anyone who could identify officials involved in irregularities in the aid may have contributed to the deluge of complaints regarding questionable SAP disbursements.

The DILG has not revealed details about the barangay officials including their names, but authorities said they have established probable cause to charge them with criminal cases.

“The police will not stop rounding up these corrupt barangay officials who are the real virus of society. This type of arrest is what the PNP is aching to do, because it is seething in anger at corrupt officials,” Año said in a statement in Filipino.

Complaints received by the DILG against these officials include falsification of SAP forms, collection of supposed processing fees, and the splitting of financial assistance.

Año has also requested the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which is under the Department of Justice, to prioritize investigating reports of graft and corruption in the SAP.

The DILG urged the public not to be afraid to report cases of irregularity.

At Malacañang, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. vowed that local officials found pocketing aid intended for sectors sidelined by the lockdown would be punished. He also threatened them with detention in facilities for persons infected with COVID 19.

“The CIDG has its orders. They were directed to receive such complaints. Go to CIDG and we will arrest these officials,” Roque said at a press briefing.

“If there are spaces in centers we prepared for the sick and the jail facilities are not enough, we would detain them there. We have to detain them to teach them a lesson that they should not touch the aid intended for the poorest sectors in our society,” he added.

President Duterte has offered a P30,000 reward to anyone who would provide factual reports about officials who steal from the emergency subsidies for low-income households and workers whose livelihood sources were disrupted by the enhanced community quarantine.

About 91 percent of intended beneficiaries have received aid while 1,265 out of 1,634 local government units (LGUs) have completed the distribution of the first tranche of the assistance, according to the interior department. Local executives had until May 10 to finish the distribution of the first tranche of the aid.

“I think if there is reason to do so, the DILG may issue a show cause letter but what is important is the aid should reach the remaining nine percent who have not received anything,” Roque said.

“For local governments that have not distributed aid to 100 percent of the beneficiaries, our mandate is continue until we finish that 100 percent. We will cross the bridge when we get there. Once the distribution is completed, we will see what the next steps of DILG will be if there are any,” he added.

Roque said President Duterte has yet to approve guidelines for the second tranche of the SAP and the proposal to increase the number of its beneficiaries from 18 million to 23 million households. Roque previously said the government may stop giving aid to areas that have shifted to the more lenient general community quarantine because people in these places are now allowed to go to work.

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