Survey tool to determine if government aid reached beneficiaries

CEBU, Philippines — The government’s coordinating body in the war against poverty has unveiled a survey tool that will monitor and determine if social amelioration funds or “ayuda” reached their intended beneficiaries.

Atty. Noel K. Felongco, lead convener and secretary of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, said the post distribution monitoring (PDM) survey will determine if cash and food assistance reached “the poor and deserving” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Nationwide, this translates into 18 million low income families in Manila, the rest of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. The survey will show if the 5,000 pesos to 8,000 pesos ayuda reached them as mandated by the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act,” Felongco said in a statement.

The survey tool seeks to gather data for NAPC policy recommendations to fight worsening poverty aggravated by COVID-19.

The survey will include national agencies and will generate data on how local governments delivered their food and non- food assistance to their constituents.

NAPC will utilize the data to lobby to the LGUs for localized anti-poverty plans and programs.

Felongco unveiled the new survey tool on Wednesday, August 5, 2020, in a virtual press conference. With him were NAPC vice chair for basic sectors Ruperto Aleroza, sectoral council representatives and Ron Mateo, and Fernando Cao of the monitoring and evaluation committee and project development unit.

Felongco said the survey tool is in response to the clamor of communities whose sources of income were hard-hit in the early months of the pandemic. He said it can be shared with everyone.

“Ang NAPC ay ang pangunahing ahensya na may tungkuling matiyak ang maayos na pagpapatupad ng mga interbensyon ng gobyerno. At sa kasalukuyan ang aming ahensya ay gumagawa ng mga makabagong hakbang upang matutukan ng mabuti ang mga programa ngayong panahon ng pandemiya, kabilang na dito ang Social Amelioration Programs,” he said.

(NAPC is the lead agency in ensuring that the government’s interventions are carried out efficiently. We are taking new steps in giving attention to the implementation of these programs, including the Social Amelioration programs.)

He credited Ron Mateo’s team for developing the post-distribution monitoring survey tool.

This PDM survey aims to gather information and generate insights on the appropriateness, effectiveness and the immediate outcomes of the social amelioration programs (SAPs), most especially the cash subsidy, as well as food and non-food relief packages.

In addition, the PDM seeks to strengthen government response by validating if “ayuda” were able to reach its intended beneficiaries.

It also seeks to determine if social amelioration measures were appropriate so as to merit replication. The tool also seeks to assess strengths and weaknesses in the management of assistance that could affect the health and security of beneficiaries. 

Felongco believes the new survey tool will be a significant step in NAPC’s monitoring and evaluation of the government’s responses and efforts in mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We believe that through this monitoring tool, we could assist the public sector in evaluating our existing framework to help ensure fast delivery of quality service to the Filipinos,” he said.

He emphasized that the consistency in the implementation and distribution of government aid is crucial during a pandemic and can be achieved and maintained only by troubleshooting existing processes and tweaking these processes constantly it according to the specific needs of the people. — JMO (FREEMAN)