The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said Tuesday (July 28) that it has uncovered that over 239,000 beneficiaries of Social Amelioration Program (SAP) were ineligible, while almost 676,000 individuals have received multiple financial assistance from the government during the first tranche distribution of cash aid.
“Sa kalasukuyan (Currently), 239, 859 ang nakita natin na hindi kwalipikado (we have found 239, 859 ineligible beneficiaries) at 675, 933 naman ang tinatawag nating duplicate (and 675, 933 were so-called duplicate beneficiaries),” DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista said in a virtual press briefing, citing the agency’s latest post-validation monitoring report.
He said the local government units (LGUs) that granted SAP aid to ineligible beneficiaries have to refund the cash grant to the DSWD as stipulated in the memorandum of agreement (MOA) forged between the two parties.
“Kailangan ibalik ang ayuda sa kanilang mga pamahaalang lokal at posible din na mabigyan ng demand letter ang mga benepisyaryo na nasasaad na kailangan nilang ibalik ang nakuhang ayuda,” Bautista said.
(The cash aid should be returned to their respective local government units, and it is possible that the beneficiaries will be given a demand letter showing that they have to return the cash aid they received.)
He further explained that excess grants received by beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) will be automatically deducted from their subsequent cash grants until the amount is fully adjusted or refunded.
Bautista said for the second tranche, the DSWD has distributed P42.8 billion to over 6.5 million beneficiaries, citing the agency’s July 28 SAP monitoring report.
He said the recent list of the SAP 2 beneficiaries include 1.3 million beneficiaries of 4Ps, 3.2 million non-4Ps households, over 1.8 million “waitlisted”, non-4Ps, and low-income beneficiaries, and 200,000 “waitlisted” beneficiaries from enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) areas.
He said the distribution of SAP 2 aid might be extended until the first two weeks of August should they fail to meet the target deadline of completing the digital and manual payout by July 31.
“Pipilitin po natin na maipamahagi ang lahat ng ayuda sa loob ng buwan ng Hulyo. Kung sakali po hindi ito matapos, ang ating pagtataya ay maipamahagi ang lahat ng ayuda sa loob ng unang dalawang linggo ng Agosto dahil mayroon po tayong mga benepisyrayo na sa malalayong lugar, mga conflicted affected areas at iba pang mga kadahilanan na makikita naming makakaantala sa pagbabahagi ng ayuda,” Bautista said.
(We will try to distribute all the cash aid within this month of July. If this will not be completed, we estimate that all the emergency subsidy will be distributed within the first two weeks of August because we have beneficiaries in far-flung areas, conflict-affected areas, and we have seen other reasons which might delay the distribution of the aid.)
“Sa lahat po ng ating mga natitirang benepisyaryo ng SAP, asahan po na matatanggap ang ayuda sa susunod na araw lalo pa’t mas pinaigting natin ang manual at digital payouts.”
(For our remaining SAP beneficiaries, expect that your cash aid will be received in the next coming days, especially now that that the digital and manual payouts have been intensified.)
When asked if the public can expect other tranches of cash subsidy from the government, Bautista explained: “Base sa (Based on the) Bayanihan to Heal as One Act , two tranche ang SAP (SAP has two tranches). Bilang implementer ng programa (As implementer of the program), ang DSWD ay susunod sa ating mga batas (the DSWD will follow to the law) at polisiya (and policies). Kung magkakaroon ng pangalawang batas sa pamamigay ng iba pang tranches ng ayuda (if there will be a second law that would mandate the granting of another tranches of subsidies), tayo po ay susunod dito (we will follow).”
The Bayanihan 2 was passed on third and final reading by the Senate on Tuesday, a day after President Duterte directed its expeditious approval in his State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA). It calls for the creation of a P140-billion standby fund for health and socio-economic programs.