Año: Unclaimed P1,000-aid will be given to unlisted but qualified recipients instead

FILE PHOTO: A resident of Baseco, Tondo, in Manila City on Wednesday, April 7, 2021, shows the financial assistance she received from the government, which extended the (ECQ) enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila and other nearby provinces from April 5-11, due to the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region. Philippine Daily Inquirer file photo / Niño Jesus Orbeta

MANILA, Philippines — Unclaimed aid for those residing in the so-called NCR Plus bubble, which was placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in April, would instead be given to unlisted but qualified beneficiaries, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said on Thursday.

During President Rodrigo Duterte’s pre-recorded briefing Thursday, Año admitted the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) encountered some problems with the social aid for Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite – collectively known as NCR Plus.

“Meron lang po tayong nakitang mga konting problema dito, meron pong mga beneficiary na hindi na ma-contact, hindi na makita, ang iba ay umalis na ng kani-kanilang lugar at umuwi ng probinsya. At meron naman pong mga qualified pero wala po sila do’n sa naibigay na listahan,” the cabinet official explained.

(We just saw some problems with the aid distribution, there are some beneficiaries whom the government has failed to contact or locate, as some had already moved back to their provinces. Then there are those who are qualified beneficiaries but were not included in the list.)

“So after po May 15, kami po ay maglalabas ng amendment […] bibigyan namin ng sampung araw ang lahat ng LGU para ayusin ‘yong lahat ng mga problema na ito, makagawa sila ng supplemental payroll para mabayaran po ‘yong mga qualified pero wala sa listahan,” he added.

(So after May 15, we would release an amendment, giving all local government units 10 days to fix all the problems regarding the disbursement, make a supplemental payroll to pay the qualified beneficiaries who are not on the list.)

Año further said LGUs would have to thoroughly search their localities until May 15 to make sure the listed beneficiaries can no longer be found within their jurisdiction before reallocating the unclaimed funds to other qualified yet unlisted beneficiaries.

“At ito pong mga hindi na makita, ay ma-finalize na po hanggang May 15 kung hindi po nila make-claim, ay ito po ay pwede nating ipamigay doon sa mga qualified,” he noted.

(And those beneficiaries we could no longer contact, we would finalize it by May 15 so that if they would not claim it, we can give it to those who are qualified.)

According to the DILG chief, 20,028,688 of the 22,915,422 beneficiaries or 87.40 percent have already received their one-time P1,000 aid, which means that P20.02 billion has already been released for the program.

Based on Año’s data, Laguna has the highest disbursement rate with 95.04% as 2,583,390 of its 2,718,083 registered beneficiaries have received the aid as of Thursday noon.

Trailing was Bulacan with 2,739,465 of 2,967,039 beneficiaries (92.33%); Rizal with 2,266,901 of 2,612,824 beneficiaries (86.76%); Metro Manila with 9,597,236 of 11,172,988 beneficiaries (85.90%); and Cavite with 2,841,696 of 2,967,039 beneficiaries (82.50%).

The social aid was a P1,000 cash provision for individuals whose jobs were affected by the imposition of the ECQ due to the COVID-19 surge. The aid was capped at P4,000 per family.

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KGA