195 cities, towns, still have no aid due to unfinished MOAs with DSWD

DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista was among those who joined the briefing on COVID-19 led by President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday, April 8, 2020. (Photo from an RTVM video)

MANILA, Philippines – There are still 195 cities and municipalities nationwide that have not accessed the government’s social amelioration program (SAP) due to unfinished deals with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

According to the weekly report of President Rodrigo Duterte to Congress, the 195 local government units (LGUs) are still in the process of crafting memorandums of agreement (MOAs) with the DSWDt, which spearheads the provision of social aid.

The aid is intended for workers who have lost their sources of income due to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) over Luzon and other areas, which was placed to limit the spread of COVID-19.

“As of 09 April 2020, there are 664 cities and municipalities that have submitted an MOA to the DSWD indicating their intention to avail of the SAP.  On the other hand, the remaining 195 cities and municipalities are still in the process of crafting their respective MOAs with the DSWD,” the report indicated.

The report did not mention what particular cities and municipalities had not yet finished the MOAs with DSWD.

Despite the big number, the government assured that the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) would continue monitoring the compliance of LGUs in implementing the SAP.

The SAP is an offshoot of the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act, or Republic Act No. 11469, which specifies that 18 million households should receive financial assistance worth P5,000 to P8,000 per month.

However, the DSWD has encountered several problems in the rollout of the SAP, with Secretary Rolando Bautista saying that they had relied on LGUs to provide a list of beneficiaries as they knew their constituents more.

Bautista noted that problems emerged due to the LGUs’ inadequate lists.

After the enhanced community quarantine over Luzon suspended work except for frontline services, people who rely on daily wages and those whose work cannot adapt to a work-from-home setting asked for help from the government.

As of Monday, the quarantine was still in effect, due to the rising number of COVID-19 patients.

Department of Health officials said that there are now 4,932 infected patients — 315 of whom have died and 242 have recovered.

Worldwide, over 1.8 million individuals have been infected, while 114,063 have died from the disease and 421,500 have recovered from it.

/atm