Senators on Tuesday, September 22, questioned the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) over its P10 billion in savings, even as some local government units (LGUs) complained about a lack of funds for the government’s emergency subsidy program (ESP) to families affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

During the Senate hearing on DSWD’s proposed budget for 2021, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said 18 million beneficiaries were able to receive the first trance of ESP, but only 14 million were able to get the second tranche.

“Why is that, when Bayanihan 1 appropriated two tranches for 18 million families? The budget allocated in Bayanihan 1 was for two tranches of SAP (social amelioration program) for 18 million families,” Recto said.

DSWD Undersecretary Danilo Pamonag said that even if they wanted to give 18 million beneficiaries for the 2nd tranche, LGU submitted only 14 million families.

Recto then asked where is the fund for the supposed 4 million beneficiaries amounting to P10 billion, to which DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista, a retired general, replied that they are awaiting for the instructions of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) whether they will return it or realign it.

“Now you’re telling me, telling the Committee, that it’s possible that you could return it to the Treasury. The reason why I’m asking this, is marami ang nagtatanong (many are asking). Halimbawa (For example), in Batangas. Maraming hindi pa nakakatanggap ng SAP (Many have not received the SAP yet). In my hometown of Lipa City to begin with, I’ve heard of complaints,” Recto said.

Meanwhile, Senator Nancy Binay also raised concerns over the supposed 4 million beneficiaries who could have benefitted from the P10 billion savings, noting that if LGUs didn’t provide them the complete list, the agency could have found the beneficiaries themselves.

“Hindi ko maintindihan kung bakit nagkaroon ng savings na P10 billion. Eh mayroong mga jeepney drivers na hindi nakakatanggap…. I’m just bothered that there’s that big amount na nakatulong na sana noong kasagsagan ng lockdown,” Binay said. (READ: [ANALYSIS] Free money for every Filipino, at least during emergencies)

(I don’t understand why there is P10 billion in savings. There are jeepney drivers who have not received any cash aid yet… I’m just bothered that there’s that bigamount that could have helped [poor Filipinos] during the lockdown.)

Recto reiterated that the Republic Act No. 11469, or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, explicitly stated the cash grant of P5,000 to P8,000 was intended to benefit 18 million poor households in two tranches.

As of Tuesday, DSWD has not completed the distribution of the second tranche of cash yet, with 193,925 families still waiting for the promised cash aid.

Under the government’s proposed P4.5-trillion budget for 2021, DSWD is allocated P171.2 billion.

Bautista’s explanation

Bautista, in a PTV interview on Saturday, September 26, explained why the P10 billion was unutilized. He said this wasn’t declared as savings because SAP distribution is still ongoing. Rather, these funds could not now be used for emergency subsidy because of the decrease in beneficiaries. This reduction was partly because less areas fell under ECQ, compared to when the first tranche of SAP was released, a time when the entire Luzon region was under lockdown.

“Nabawasan ang bilang ng mga benepisyaryo dahil una, ang mga residente lamang ng mga naideklarang ECQ areas ang siyang kabilang sa second tranche. Ito ay ayon sa Executive Order No. 112 Series of 2020 at memorandum ni Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea noong May 2,” said Bautista.

(The number of beneficiaries went down because only the residents of areas declared to be under ECQ were covered by the 2nd tranche.)

These areas were: Central Luzon except for Aurora Province, National Capital Region, Calabarzon, the provinces of Benguet, Pangasinan, Iloilo, Albay and Cebu, and the cities Bacolod, Davao and Zamboanga.

The number of beneficiaries further decreased after the DSWD validated its lists of qualified beneficiaries.

“More than 200,000 were found to be not qualified and over 1.1 million were found to have received more than one emergency package from different government agencies that also implemented social amelioration measures,” said Bautista.

Malacañang had ordered 5 million more low-income households would receive emergency cash assistance. But according to Bautista, they couldn’t reach this number of beneficiaries.

“There were only 3.3 million in the lists submitted by local governments and only 2.1 million of these lived in the ECQ areas mentioned,” said Bautista. – Rappler.com