Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 4) — President Rodrigo Duterte blames politicking as among the reasons for the slow distribution of cash aid, in his sixth report to Congress on his special powers to address the COVID-19 crisis.
Duterte said some Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) personnel in some areas have even received threats from local government officials.
Only 64.5 percent of target beneficiaries have received cash aid ranging from ₱5,000 to ₱8,000, more than a month since the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act mandated the government to provide financial relief to some 18,000 poor families to cushion the impact of quarantine measures.
Duterte said that aside from politics, there have also been reports of inaccurate lists of eligible beneficiaries, which slowed down local government units in processing cash aid.
Adding to the considerable delay was the postponement of payouts after the exposure of some DSWD staff members to COVID-19 patients and the failure of recipients to observe measures against infection, Duterte added.
The DSWD earlier committed to finish distributing cash aid by the end of April. But as of Saturday, it had only succeeded in distributing financial assistance to around 11.6 million families.
In his report, Duterte said a total of ₱98.05 billion of the initial ₱100-billion allocation to the DSWD for cash aid has been released, ₱54.65 billion of which had already been given to target beneficiaries.
