Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rolando Bautista on Wednesday said the government’s experiences in the implementation of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) proved helpful to come up with faster and more efficient assistance distribution.
“So sa tingin as a whole iyong magandang natutunan natin dito sa (So I think as a whole, the good thing here in) special financial assistance that we trust our local government units, we trust our local chief executives in the distribution of the ayuda (assistance),” Bautista said in pre-State of the Nation Address virtual presser on Wednesday.
He said the DSWD initially experienced difficulties in the distribution of cash assistance under SAP for the poor families affected by the quarantine restrictions due to Covid-19 pandemic.
“Covid-19 came as a shock to all of us. The government decided to release its biggest yet cash-transfer program (SAP) to assist the households who will be among the hardest-hit of the pandemic,” he said. “Providing service at the start of the pandemic was a race against expeditious distribution of the subsidy at the same time we have to go through many processes to release the aid, to legitimize the involvement of other government agencies.”
Bautista said the government has to be careful in transferring funds from the Department of Budget and Management down to the local government units (LGUs) to make sure that safety nets are presents to avoid corruption.
“We were meticulous about this so that we can prevent anomalies, we should be careful with the procedure. And when it came to the distribution phase, the borders of the municipalities were not open when the staff are ready to deliver the SAP cash aid. It was at this time that were getting a hold on the situation, on how to arrest the spike of Covid-19,” he explained.
He said when the DSWD tapped financial service providers (FSPs) for faster and contactless SAP distribution, the challenge was having a database for the beneficiaries.
Bautista said they need to cross-match the information generated by the LGUs to make sure it is based on the criteria provided under the joint memorandum of agreement.
“Based on experience, if we will trace back on the last assistance provided in the NCR+ Bubble, the transfer of funds to the local government units was very reliable because they (LGUs) already know the situation in the ground. They have already identified the beneficiaries,” he said.
The DSWD along with the Department of the Interior and Local Government and Department of National Defense have provided the teams that will secure smooth transaction between the distributors and beneficiaries.
“At the end of the day, with regards to the enforcement, if there were violations, irregularities, we have witnessed the performance of the DILG, those advantageous personnel did not slip through them. They had to explain why irregularities and anomalies existed,” he added.
PhilID will provide accuracy in targeting beneficiaries
Meanwhile, Bautista said a full digital experience on the distribution of aid will soon be realized through the Philippine Identification System ID (PhilSys ID) or national ID of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
He said without national ID, it would be really difficult to locate the beneficiaries.
“PhilSys will serve as basis to really identify the beneficiaries and enroll them to digital payments,” he said.
As of July 2, 2021, PSA recorded a total of 37,180,710 Filipinos who completed the first step for national ID registration.
The PSA targets to register around 50 to 70 million by the end of 2021.
The DSWD presented data that over 17 million low-income families were recorded to have received their first tranche of SAP amounting to PHP98 billion.
For the second tranche, 14.88 million families received cash assistance worth PHP89.8 billion as of July 2, 2021.
Source: Philippines News Agency
