FILE PHOTO: A Baseco, Tondo, in Manila City resident shows her cash aid. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo said Thursday he would order an investigation into the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) supposed failure to distribute cash assistance amounting to nearly P2 billion.
Clearly, Tulfo’s remark was prompted after the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the DSWD as allegedly having failed to distribute cash assistance under the Social Amelioration Program of the government.
The social welfare secretary, while stressing that the distribution of the cash aid was still under the previous DSWD leadership, said some P1.7 billion has been returned to the Bureau of Treasury.
“P1.7 billion po iyun na ibinalik ng DSWD sa Bureau of Treasury dahil nga po hindi naibigay. Ngayon, ang problema namin, marami ang naniningil ngayon na hindi raw sila nakatanggap,” Tulfo said during the Laging Handa briefing.
(The DSWD has returned P1.7 billion to the Bureau of Treasury because these funds were not distributed. But the problem now is that there are people who are saying they didn’t receive any cash assistance.)
“Paiimbestigahan ko po ito, ano ang nangyari? Pero initially mayroon na akong report dito parang nagkakaroon daw ng confusion. Hindi pa malinaw pero I will keep on investigating,” he added.
(I will order an investigation on this. But initially, the report I received stated that there was confusion. So it is still unclear, but we will keep on investigating.)
Tulfo lamented that instead of his manpower focusing on present programs and implementing other future projects, some will be tasked to investigate what happened in the past.
“Ang tinitingnan ko dito, naibalik naman ang pera sa Bureau of Treasury, hindi naman siya nawala. Yun lang ang nakakalungkot, hindi naibigay sa tao yung kinakailangan ng tao na budget,” Tulfo said.
(The way I see this, the money was returned to the Bureau of Treasury so it’s not missing. But what’s saddening is the cash aid was not given to the people who need it.)
“So medyo may dilemma ako dito at medyo malungkot kasi kung papa-imbestigahan ko ito, I will pull out two or three of my people to investigate this matter when in fact they could focus on our problems now and in the future,” he added.
(So I have a dilemma here, and I’m a bit sad because if I have this investigated, I will pull out two or three of my people to investigate this matter when in fact, they could focus on our problems now and in the future.)