Cash aid reaches only half of target households

PROOF OF AID A social worker documents the distribution of cash aid to residents of Barangay San Isidro in Parañaque City by having them photographed—together
with the wad of P8,000 cash. The government deadline for the distribution was Thursday but it was extended in some parts of the country. —RICHARD A. REYES

Only 9.4 million households out of the targeted 18 million have received cash assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as of April 30, Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista admitted on Thursday.

Bautista said the department had managed to transfer P80.8 billion to local government units (LGUs) of the P100 billion allotted for the DSWD’s subsidy program, but only P50.1 billion had been distributed so far.

Given this slow progress, LGUs will be allowed a deadline extension for the distribution of the first tranche of the cash aid, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said.

Bautista said the LGUs’ delay in liquidating the aid given to poor households “has implications on the DSWD’s own validation of documents.”

The Bayanihan to Heal as One Act provides for a P200-billion emergency cash aid for 18 million households most affected by the enhanced community quarantine. The money was supposed to be transferred to the DSWD in two tranches: one for April and the second for May.

Second tranche

The DSWD confirmed earlier that it already had the second tranche of the subsidy, but last week said it would delay its distribution if local governments failed to submit the required liquidation reports.

In a message to reporters, DSWD spokesperson Irene Dumlao sought to explain the DSWD’s process in distributing the funds.She said the department’s guidelines clearly state that the agency would transfer the funds “24 hours after LGUs submit a signed memorandum of agreement (MOA) and project proposal.”

Dumlao was unable to provide details, however, when asked what the MOA and project proposal should contain.Some LGUs have claimed that despite their timely submission of MOAs and project proposals, there was considerable delay in the transfer of funds.

Extension

Año said the extension for certain LGUs was granted following an appeal from mayors in Metro Manila.

“We saw that their reasons were valid. They can distribute [the funds] within the given time, but the physical and social distancing would be violated, so it would be useless and against the goal of not letting the novel coronavirus spread,” Año said at a press briefing in Malacañang.

He added that, “physically and mathematically, it is really impossible to distribute it all given the magnitude of families in [the LGUs’] jurisdiction.”

The Department of the Interior and Local Government gave the following areas another week’s extension to distribute the cash aid starting on May 1—Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Bulacan in Luzon; Cebu City in Visayas; and Davao City in Mindanao. Several mayors in Eastern Visayas also sought an extension of the deadline, saying there were just too many beneficiaries yet too little time to complete the distribution of the subsidy.

In Bohol, many LGUs have yet to complete the distribution of the subsidy, including the village of Booy in Tagbilaran City.Jun Telmo, a councilor in the village, said the DSWD had scheduled the distribution of the cash on Thursday morning, but this was moved to late in the afternoon, as of this reporting. —WITH REPORTS FROM JULIE M. AURELIO, JOEY GABIETA, LEO UDTOHAN AND MELVIN GASCON