Find funds for families excluded in DSWD’s cash subsidy, LGUs told

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Wednesday asked local government units (LGUs) to look for funds that can be used to assist families who were not included in the national government’s social amelioration program.

“For the LGU constituents that are not covered by the Social Amelioration Program Cash Assistance of the government but are included in the lists of their respective Mayors, may we kindly request the Mayors and their councils to look into their Councils finances, savings, programmed projects for the year that is to be implemented which can be deferred, and other possible sources of funds that are available to them, which can be used to fill in the gap of their additional beneficiaries being requested from the DSWD so that they can come up with the same amount as dictated by the Regional Wage Rates of their area in an amelioration program of their City or Municipality,” DSWD said in a statement.

Local officials earlier lamented the “quota system” being imposed on the distribution of the cash aid to help poor families cope with the effects of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Each city is supposedly given a fixed amount from the P200 billion that the government has set aside for the social amelioration program, officials said.

DSWD also appealed to the public for understanding why the government is prioritizing the poorest of the poor. It then called for a collective effort in helping the most vulnerable sectors survive.

“Let us try to understand the plight of our poor brothers and sisters; those who were prioritized by the Listahanan 2015 of the DSWD, and the additional members projected by the Economic Team of the Administration, to receive the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) cash assistance,” DSWD said.

“These poor vulnerable households depend on their daily income to survive and are totally hand to mouth survivors. The poor informal sector members of society have nothing, are not educated, have undernourished members, have no opportunities, and were born on the other side of the tracks so to speak. Some of them are trying to get out of that bondage. Let’s help them survive this crisis,” it added.

In Pasig City’s case, 206,000 families were listed by the local government but only 93,000 were approved by DSWD, Mayor Vico Sotto earlier said.

Consequently, Sotto said the city government will provide a subsidy to families who were not able to make it to the national government’s list of beneficiaries. He said some P1.5 billion have already been identified and earmarked to fund cash aid to these families.

According to President Rodrigo Duterte’s report to Congress released Monday, there are still 195 cities and municipalities that have not accessed the emergency subsidies.

The report states that these LGUs are still in the process of crafting memorandums of agreement (MOA) with DSWD.

DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista earlier acknowledged the gaps in distributing the aid and explained there were problems in the identification of the beneficiaries.

Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, some 18 million low-income households will be given P5,000 to P8,000, depending on the minimum wage rates in their respective regions, as financial assistance amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the stoppage of work mostly in Luzon that is on lockdown.

KGA