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 — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said it understands why mayors may opt to conduct an in-person distribution of aid for Metro Manila residents affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
The DSWD made the statement on Tuesday after Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairperson Benhur Abalos said it would be better for National Capital Region (NCR) mayors to do away with the department’s digital payment scheme due to lack of time.
A new tranche of financial assistance is expected for the NCR as it goes under ECQ from August 6 to 20 to stop the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant.
“We respect the statement of Chair Abalos. We also respect the recommendation to adopt manual/ face-to-face distribution of aid due to the limited time that we have to distribute the needed assistance and the peculiarities on the ground,” DSWD spokesperson Director Irene Dumlao said in a statement sent to reporters.
“We have seen that this mechanism worked during the distribution of ECQ ayuda (aid) in NCR+ several months ago,” she added.
Earlier, Abalos said another reason why he is not in favor of a digital cash aid distribution is that not all beneficiaries have smartphones, which is a requirement for online transactions.
READ: Abalos bids for in-person distribution of ECQ aid in NCR over lack of time, technology
But although it respects Abalos’s stand on digital payouts, the DSWD maintains that there are advantages to using a digital system.
“DSWD recognizes that the digital payment system had some challenges, including lacking information from beneficiaries and that some beneficiaries do not have smartphones,” Dumlao said.
“However, we believe that certain gains resulted from the use of digital payouts as affirmed by the study conducted by the Innovations for Poverty Action, in collaboration with the World Bank and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), entitled, Monitoring Digital Financial Payments of Cash Transfer in the Philippines,” she added.
According to the DSWD, the study showed that 92 percent of respondents said they were highly satisfied with the digital disbursement of the social amelioration program (SAP).
“According to the study, Ninety-two percent (92%) of respondents reported high or very high satisfaction levels on the use of digital disbursements for SAP,” Dumlao noted.
Metro Manila will be placed under a two-week ECQ starting Aug. 6 after President Rodrigo Duterte approved last Friday the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) resolution.
The latest lockdown comes amid the looming threat of the more transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant.
READ: Metro Manila under ECQ from August 6 to 20
READ: Palace assures ‘ayuda’ on lockdown, but still unsure on funding source
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