Cayetano wants faster aid dole-outs through LGUs while cutting admin costs

ILOCOS NORTE, Philippines – Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday, November 9, suggested that the national government hastened the distribution of cash aid to the poor through coordination with local government units (LGUs), which would at the same time cut administrative costs. 

In the first day of the Senate interpellations for the 2023 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), Cayetano said this was needed due to the continuous threat of the pandemic and rising prices of goods.

“If we simply directly help them, cut out all of the administrative cost, katulad ng ginawa natin sa Bayanihan 1 and 2, idiretso sa LGU, idiretso sa pamilya, nakatipid na tayo ng 10% of P200 billion, which is P20 billion. Masisigurado pang hindi doble, masisigurado pang lahat mabibigyan, at masisigurado pang madali nilang makuha,” said Cayetano.

(If we simply directly help them, cut out all of the administrative costs, just like what we did with Bayanihan 1 and 2, we can give the funds straight to the LGUs and to the different families. With that, we save 10% of P200 billion, which is P20 billion. We can ensure that nobody gets aid twice, we can ensure that everyone is a recipient, and we can ensure that they can get it with ease.)

The P200 billion Cayetano was referring to was the P200 billion in subsidies and aid that are spread throughout the 2023 GAB. He compared his proposal to the Singapore government’s recent SGD $1.5-billion initiative (P62.53 billion), which aimed at helping Singaporeans cope with the rising cost of living.

Cayetano said that the money that is put into administrative costs can be redirected. He proposed to give poor Filipino families P10,000 each to cope with the high costs of goods and services. The Philippine Statistics Authority pegged the number of families living below the poverty line at 3.5 million in 2021.

“Hindi ba natin pinapahirapan ang buhay natin sa gobyerno by putting [subsidies] in different agencies, at hindi ba natin pinapahirapan ang buhay ng nga Pilipino na kanya-kanya silang nag-a-apply sa iba’t-ibang ahensya?” Cayetano asked.

(Aren’t we making our lives in the government difficult by putting subsidies in different agencies, and aren’t we making Filipinos’ lives difficult by making them apply on their own with different agencies?

But Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, sponsor of the 2023 GAB, pointed out how Cayetano’s proposal would be easier said than done, as the government’s social protection programs were already institutionalized in various agencies.

Programs such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the social pension program for senior citizens, and voucher program for senior high school students were already well-established and backed by laws. Different agencies have specific standards in monitoring recipients and beneficiaries.

“I see where you’re going with your arguments, your honor, but I guess it’s not easy to put all these things back in the box. And I’m not sure if the recipients would be the same because these programs have different objectives,” Angara said in a mix of English and Filipino.

“’Yung ibang mga programa, need-based eh, tulad ng medical assistance to indigent and financially incapacitated patients or MAIP, kapag may sakit, saka mo lang maa-avail ho ‘yan,” he added. (Some other programs are need-based, like the medical assistance to indigent and financially incapacitated patients or MAIP, only when you get sick – that’s when you can avail yourself of it.)

Angara added that some of the programs are based on laws, and changing them would take a “herculean” effort involving the decisions of the President and both chambers of Congress.

Cayetano later asked if Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno and Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman could check if the different agencies could have their own mobile application for a more convenient and quicker government response as an alternative way of hastening the dole-outs.

Diokno had said in August that there would be no more “ayuda” related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2023 budget, citing the Philippines’ recovering economy. – Ryand Ugalde/Rappler.com

Ryand Ugalde is a Rappler volunteer studying at the Mariano Marcos State University in Ilocos Norte. This article was done under the supervision of Rappler staff and his copy was vetted by editors.

$1 SGD = P41.6878