The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is eyeing to complete the manual distribution of emergency cash subsidies under the national government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP) by end of July.
“Some payout activities are currently ongoing and will be completed by the end of this month,” the DSWD said in a statement on Sunday, July 4.
https://twitter.com/chailuci/status/1411582855218491398
It said as of July 2, more than P89.8 billion worth of cash subsidies have been disbursed to over 14.88 million household-beneficiaries for the second tranche of SAP.
The ongoing SAP distribution was intended for waitlisted recipients and for those recipients who have not received their SAP 2 aid from financial service providers (FSPs).
Related story: https://mb.com.ph/2021/07/04/dswd-111236-unserved-sap-beneficiaries-in-calabarzon-already-received-ayuda/
In April this year, the DSWD terminated the services of the six FSPs and decided to conduct manual payouts for unserved SAP 2 beneficiaries.
The DSWD clarified that the FSPs, including Starpay, “liquidated the budget that they received and refunded the amount for the unserved beneficiaries to the DSWD.”
Related story: https://mb.com.ph/2021/07/04/walang-nawawala-dswd-assures-sap-funds-all-accounted-for/
In a virtual presser on Saturday afternoon, Senator Manny Pacquiao revealed that P10.4 billion worth of SAP funds were not given to beneficiaries. He claimed that more or less P50 billion was allocated for Starpay e-wallet service when it purportedly just had paid up capital of P62,000.
Related story: https://mb.com.ph/2021/07/03/pacquiao-tags-dswd-in-corruption-cites-%E2%82%B110-4-b-missing-sap-funds/
The DSWD assured the public that :all funds provided to the FSPs are all accounted for and that there are no “missing” funds."
https://twitter.com/chailuci/status/1411503355969433600
"All aid distributed is supported by liquidation reports that can be shared, if necessary. The agency ensures that the processes adopted by FSPs on payouts are in accordance with BSP-approved processes and existing government accounting rules and procedures,” it said.
In a move to expedite the second tranche distribution of cash aid under Bayanihan 1, the DSWD signed on June 30, 2020 a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Lank Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and six FSPs for the “faster and more efficient” digital payment of SAP 2 subsidies.
The FSPs are Robinsons Bank, Unionbank, RCBC, Gcash, Paymaya, and Starpay.
The DSWD said the FSPs were identified through the technical assistance of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) having the expertise on digitization as well as enabling policies and regulatory environment for financial inclusion and digital payments
“In identifying the FSPs, BSP explained that primary considerations were given to the presence of payout partners to ensure ease and ability to cash out by beneficiaries balanced with other considerations such as: presence of any business model institutions, historical experience in commercial roll out, and type of cash out points that may contribute to ensuring liquidity or availability of cash.”
The DSWD noted that to date, more than 17 million low-income families have received their first tranche of SAP amounting to more than P98 billion.
“The DSWD vows that all its transactions are transparent and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.”
The DSWD reiterated that it is willing to face any investigating body and present the necessary evidence and other relevant documents to clarify the allegations raised by Pacquiao on the SAP implementation.
Under Republic Act No. 11469 or Bayanihan 1, around 18 million low-income households were entitled to receive their emergency subsidy amounting to P5,000 to P8,000 for two months.