Tupas gets back at Soliman, seeks probe of shelter funds

Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. has turned the tables on Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman, calling for a congressional inquiry into alleged anomalies in the implementation of her department’s emergency shelter assistance (ESA) program for the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan).

Just days after Soliman had complained about the lawmaker’s “interference” in the program, Tupas, chair of the House justice committee, asked the appropriate committees to look into why it took more than a year to release the ESA, a government cash grant amounting to P30,000 each for families whose houses were totally destroyed and P10,000 for those whose houses were damaged during the supertyphoon in November 2013.

Tupas said he had received “thousands of individual complaints” about government personnel taking cuts from the funds to beneficiaries in Iloilo’s fifth congressional district which he represents.

“Numerous beneficiaries complained that their entitlements were reduced by a substantial amount because these were subjected to ‘tong’ or illegal cuts by unscrupulous local officials in connivance with some DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) personnel,” he said. Others complained about receiving just a fraction of the grant because the money had been split into smaller amounts to accommodate more beneficiaries.

There were also complaints that unqualified residents made it to the list of beneficiaries after entering into an “illegal arrangement” with DSWD and local officials, he added.

As of September, some P1.75 billion in cash grants had been given out to 72,565 families in the fifth district, which covers the towns of Barotac Viejo, Ajuy, Sara, Lemery, San Rafael, Concepcion, Batad, Balasan, Carles, San Dionisio and Estancia.

Tupas’ two-page resolution calling for an inquiry came three days after the Inquirer reported that Soliman had complained to the Liberal Party about Tupas’ interference in the distribution of the cash-for-shelter assistance fund.

Soliman had told reporters in Iloilo that she raised the issue of Tupas’ presence at the distribution of the ESA with the LP “because they (lawmakers) are not needed there and they shouldn’t be there.”

“We raised this so that [the party] will discuss this and advise the congressman (Tupas),” she had said.

The ESA grants are coursed through local governments and are distributed by local officials, municipal social workers and staffers of the DSWD.