By Charissa Luci-Atienza
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has started posting the names of the beneficiaries of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) on its website in the spirit of transparency and accountability.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (MANILA BULLETIN)
As of Friday (May 1) night, some of the names of SAP beneficiaries in Region IV-B (Mimaropa) and Region VII (Central Visayas) have been publicly disclosed.
As of this writing, the names of SAP beneficiaries in the 15 other regions have not been posted.
Shown on the website are the names of the beneficiaries and their respective barangays, cities, or municipalities.
The DSWD earlier said no personal information of the beneficiaries will be disclosed so as not to violate their rights to privacy and in adherence to the Data Privacy Act.
The Mimaropa's SAP recipient list is limited to the names of the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in Marinduque, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, and Romblon.
The DSWD Field Office IV-B reported that 459,939 families have received their emergency subsidies, with an aggregate amount of P2.08 billion. The number of target SAP beneficiaries in Mimaropa is 611,422.
The names of SAP recipients in Central Visayas -- which covers Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor -- were also posted on the website.
As of 8 p.m. of April 30, more than P54.6 billion in SAP emergency subsidies have been distributed to over 10.3 million beneficiaries, based on the latest DSWD data.
Of the total amount, P37.7 billion has been distributed to low-income, non-Pantawid Pamilya families.
SAP beneficiaries also include 3,806,111 4Ps families who received P16.7 billion worth of emergency subsidies; and 40,418 families of transport network vehicle service (TNVS) and public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers who received a P323 million subsidy allocation.
In the Laging Handa network briefing on April 23, DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista said the DSWD will post the names of SAP beneficiaries on its website as proposed by Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III.
He said posting the names of SAP beneficiaries on the DSWD website is one of the "safety nets" to ensure transparency in the implementation of SAP.
"Isa sa mga safety nets para kung sino gusto magsamantala ay hindi makakagawa ng ganyang iregularidad, sapagkat mismong taong bayan na nagbabantay para masigurado ang mga karapat dapat lang makakatanggap ng ayuda," he said.
(This is one of the safety nets so that those who want to abuse the program will not commit any irregularities, because it is the public that is monitoring to ensure that those who receive the aid are deserving.)