ILOILO City – A total of 147 barangay officials and personnel of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Western Visayas have been charged for alleged anomalies in the distribution of the national government’s Social Amelioration Program’s (SAP) emergency cash assistance.
The charges were filed by the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 6, according to Police Lieutenant Colonel Gervacio Balmaceda Jr., regional director.
Of the 147 respondents, 25 were barangay captains, one Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson, 42 barangay kagawad, 27 barangay secretaries, seven barangay health workers, five purok leaders, six liaison officers, 30 civilians, and four DSWD personnel.
According to Balmaceda, the charges filed were for violation of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) and violation of Section 4, Paragraph C of Republic Act 11469 (Bayanihan to Heal as One Act).
The respondents would also be facing administrative charges before the Office of the Ombudsman, he added.
The cash emergency subsidy program is mandated by the new law, the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, which was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on March 25, 2020 as part of efforts to help people economically displaced by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
The program is headed by the DSWD, in cooperation with the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Agriculture, Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, and Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1 Series of 2020 signed by the implementing departments states that each qualified family can receive between P5,000 to P8,000 per month for two months for basic food, medicine, and toiletries.
The amount varies, depending on the prevailing regional minimum wage rates and takes into account the other subsidy programs in cash or in-kind, under the DSWD.
In Western Visayas, the subsidy is P6,000 for each beneficiary (per family or household basis).
The government stressed that SAP’s priority are families who need cash assistance the most, particularly those belonging in the informal sector whose livelihood has been most affected by the quarantine.
CIDG Region 6 discovered that some SAP beneficiaries in the region were not qualified to receive the cash assistance./PN
