CEBU CITY—The National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) has developed and unveiled a survey tool that would determine and gauge the impact of the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP), and whether the cash subsidies and food assistance, more popularly known as “ayuda”, have reached the intended beneficiaries – the poor families and communities in the country.

NAPC Secretary and lead convenor Atty. Noel Felongco presented the new survey tool to the media on August 5 in virtual press conference and explained that the post distribution monitoring (PDM) survey can determine if cash and food assistance were able to reach the poor and deserving families during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

“The survey will show if the P5,000 to P8,000 ‘ayuda’ reached them as mandated by the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.  This translates into 18 million low income families in Manila, the rest of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao areas,” Felongco said.

The survey tool, according to Felongco, seeks to gather data for NAPC policy recommendations to fight worsening poverty aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.  It includes not only national agencies, but also aims to generate data on how local governments delivered their food and non- food assistance to their constituents, the NAPC secretary added.

Felongco went on that as the government’s coordinating body in the war against poverty, NAPC will also use the data generated from the survey to lobby to the LGUs for localized anti-poverty plans and programs.

He said that the PDM also seeks to strengthen government response by validating if “ayuda” were able to reach its intended beneficiaries; determine if social amelioration measures were appropriate to merit replication and assess strengths and weaknesses in the management of assistance that could affect the health and security of beneficiaries. 

Felongco believed that through this monitoring tool, NAPC could assist the public sector in evaluating the existing framework to help ensure fast delivery of quality service to the Filipinos.

The consistency in the implementation and distribution of government aid is crucial during a pandemic and this can be achieved and maintained by troubleshooting existing processes and constantly tweaking it according to the specific needs of the poor sector, he said.