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House hearing on SAP lapses highlights challenges in aid distribution

Philstar.com

June 22, 2020 | 5:27pm

House hearing on SAP lapses highlights challenges in aid distribution

Photo dated April 30 shows tricycle drivers from Mandaluyong City seated inside City Hall to claim their cash aid under the Social Amelioration Program.

The STAR / Michael Varcas

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development highlighted Monday the challenges its staff went through amid its delayed distribution of cash and material aid for families affected by the coronavirus lockdown.

At the joint committee probe into the distribution of the cash aid under the Department of Social Welfare and Development's social amelioration program and on the accountability of the implementers on Monday afternoon, Social Welfare Undersecretary Dan Pamonag said that over a thousand of the department's personnel had to undergo self-quarantine from March to June.

DSWD's social amelioration program is intended to assist affected and low-income sectors amid the enhanced community quarantine, though many families on the ground have said that they have not yet received aid.

In a presentation, Pamonag said that the department struggled with a number of challenges including:

The emergence of waitlisted beneficiaries caused by prioritization
Mobility constraints to geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDAs)
Exposure of SAP implementers to health risks
Vulnerable employees working from home
SAP implementers at risk of contracting COVID-19
Observance of the 14-day quarantine caused delays in distribution

"I think it boils down to the printing of forms and the distribution to beneficiaries. Yes, there are beneficiaries who received double," Pamonag said in Filipino.

According to House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano (Taguig), the department's regional director for Metro Manila repeatedly failed to show up at meetings.

"What kind of system do you have in DSWD? We were talking to your secretary. Did you want us to call you individually? We heard nothing from you," Cayetano said in Filipino. "When will the funds be delivered, next year? Do you not see the problem that you're a national agency with billions that can't deliver? We can't be bureaucratic," he added.

Cayetano and nine other House lawmakers penned the House resolution calling for a probe on the department's aid distribution amid complaints of delays and lapses.

The deadline for distribution of the Social Amelioration Program's first tranche of aid has been moved three times, with the second tranche only just starting. Republic Act No. 11469, the law handing the chief executive special powers, prescribes handing out the cash and material aid for families most affected by the coronavirus lockdown.

For her part, Rep. Niña Taduran (ACT-CIS Partylist) said: "It is under the law that beneficiaries receive the full and complete amount...if we find evidence of local officials conniving [in abusing the funds] we will hold them accountable."

Before Congress approved the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, agencies promised to distribute the first tranche of P100 billion “in 10 days.”

Palace: Second tranche delayed by 'deduplication'

According to the chief executive's last weekly report on Monday, June 8, around 17.6 million out of the 17.9 million target beneficiaries of the program have been listed as served, though this figure does not include the additional 5 million households slated to receive cash assistance from the government.

As it stands, the chief executive has tapped both the military and the national police to assist in the distribution for social amelioration funds, especially in remote and hard to reach areas.

The Palace has said that President Rodrigo Duterte believes that distribution will run faster with the AFP and PNP at the helm, though no timetable on military and police deployment has been disclosed as of this publishing.

Distribution for the program's second tranche began on June 11 over a month after its initial target.

At an earlier briefing Monday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that DSWD was still validating the list of beneficiaries after discovering duplicates.

"They are just settling the issue on duplication of beneficiaries. That's what's causing the delay," Roque said.

"It will be processed faster once the deduplication process is over. Now that the transfer of the subsidy is automated, it will only take two days," he added.

The following areas are slated to be included in the distribution of the second tranche: