A Makabayan lawmaker on Tuesday urged the House of Representatives to start its own investigation of the distribution through a little-known firm of cash aid to poor Filipinos by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate pointed out that the Makabayan bloc already filed last Aug. 19 House Resolution No. 2146 seeking to probe the financial assistance called social amelioration program (SAP).
âIf the House heard the Pharmally issue, there is no reason why this Starpay issue should not be investigated as well. Especially considering that it involves a much bigger amount awarded to a relatively unknown entity,â said the House deputy minority leader in a text message to the Inquirer.
Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. is at the center of a Senate inquiry on the Department of Healthâs controversial pandemic supplies contracts after the undercapitalized company bagged some P12 billion worth of government deals.
Starpay Corp., owned by businessman Joey Yeung Uy, is an electronic money issuer (EMI) licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and operates like an e-wallet similar to GCash and PayMaya. It was among a number of EMIs tapped by the government to remit cash benefits to beneficiaries identified by the DSWD.
It was brought to the limelight last July when Sen. Manny Pacquiao exposed an alleged massive corruption in the DSWDâs cash payout program, claiming that P10.4 billion in SAP funds were unaccounted for, and raised several questions about how Starpay was able to corner a P50-billion share of the cash aid for distribution to DSWD beneficiaries despite acquiring a license only in 2018 and declaring a loss in 2019.
Zarate added: âIt is imperative to probe the slow distribution of the aid and why this is so. Are these funds deposited in private banks and used to gather interest? The distribution of cash aid cannot be snail-paced because the lives of our poor countrymen are at stake.â
HR 2146 sought to probe the âallegedly anomalous transactionsâ of the DSWD in distributing social amelioration to poor Filipinos badly hit by COVID-19.
Back in August, the Makabayan bloc said Starpay received P 33.2 billion, or 69 percent of the P 47.9-billion social amelioration fund.
Citing a 2020 audit report on the DSWD, it added that the DSWD channeled only 0.01 to 11.48 percent of social amelioration funds to five other financial service providers: G-Xchange Inc. (operator of GCash), Paymaya Philippines Inc., Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) and Union Bank of the Philippines.
It also noted that only 500,000 beneficiaries received the aid, contrary to the DSWDâs report that Starpay completed the payout for 1.8 million beneficiaries. .â(©Philippine Daily Inquirer 2021)
