Gov’t needs P31.7B for cash aid of ‘left-out’ poor families — DILG exec

DILG Spokesperson Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya. (Photo from his FB account)

MANILA, Philippines — The government will need P31.7 billion to fund the cash subsidy of poor families excluded from the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) list of beneficiaries under the social amelioration program, an official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Tuesday.

“Since may request na ang local government units (LGUs), kinompute ng DSWD at lumalabas na para ma-cover ang left-out families dito sa programang ito, kailangan ng kaukulang pondo amounting to P31.7 billion,” DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya told dzMM when asked about updates on the social amelioration program for families affected by the coronavirus disease pandemic.

(Since the local government units sent their requests, the DSWD underwent their computation which showed that the budget for left-out families for the social amelioration program needs P31.7 billion worth of funds.)

To recall, the DSWD used 2015 data for the list of recipients of the social amelioration program which according to some LGUs had apparent discrepancies in their current list of poor families.

Malaya said the funds, which will be sourced from the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act, is subject for approval from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID).

“Subject for approval ng IATF bukas sa kanilang briefing at pag-na-approve po ito, for implementation na ng DSWD,” the DILG official said.

(It is subject to the approval of the IATF during a briefing and once it is approved, the DSWD will implement it.)

The Bayanihan to Heal as One Act states that over 18 million poor families will receive P5,000 to P8,000, depending on the minimum wage rates in their respective regions, as financial subsidy during the enhanced community quarantine that was imposed all over Luzon to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease.

JPV