Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 22) — The Department of the Interior and Local Government is still collating reports on poor families who were left out of the first tranche of the Social Amelioration Program.
“Because from the LGUs (local government units), it goes to the provinces and then to the regions and then to us in DILG Central,” DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said in a text message, explaining why it may take a few days before they can come up with the final list.
President Rodrigo Duterte approved the inclusion of an additional five million families for the cash aid program, after LGUs complained that the original scope excluded a substantial number of qualified beneficiaries.
Officials cannot say when distribution for the second tranche will begin but they had assured that families left out in the initial distribution will be prioritized in the second tranche.
Malaya said he doesn’t believe beneficiaries are getting impatient, assuming that they received cash aid for the month of April.
“The first tranche SAP is good for 1 month as computed by NEDA/DOF (National Economic and Development Authority/Department of Finance). May pera pa (ang) mga tao. So long as we distribute by the first week of June, we’re still on target,” Malaya said.
A tedious review of the initial distribution is also causing delays.
LGUs tasked to distribute cash grants for the month of April are required to submit liquidation reports to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The DSWD said it has received liquidation reports from 1,270 LGUs. It is not clear if the agency has been able to finish validating any of these reports.
“Ang proseso po ay medyo mahaba. Meron pa pong mga dapat i-konsidera na hindi pa nakakapagbigay o tapos ng liquidation process kung kaya’t kailangan matapos ito dahil ito ang nakasaad sa batas,” DSWD Undersecretary Rene Paje said in an online briefing on May 20.
[Translation: The process is quite long. We also have to consider those who have not yet submitted or completed the liquidation process, and this needs to be done first to comply with the law.]
Under the Bayanihan Act, 18 million poor families affected by quarantine measures will receive a P5,000 to P8,000 cash grant for the months of April and May.
