A TOTAL of 15 local government units (LGUs) in Central Visayas have not yet completed their emergency cash aid distribution under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP), five days after the May 10, 2020 deadline.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development-Central Visayas (DSWD 7), however, will let them continue their distribution until May 17.
These LGUs are Cebu City, Mandaue City, Tagbilaran and Maribojoc in Bohol, Dumaguete in Negros Oriental, Carcar City, Minglanilla, San Fernando, Bogo City, Talisay City, Dalaguete, Balamban, Pinamungajan, Toledo City and Badian in Cebu Province.
Shalaine Lucero, DSWD 7 assistant regional director, said as of 3 p.m. Friday, May 15, the SAP distribution of these LGUs is ongoing.
“I wouldn’t want them to take forever, so we will tell them they have until Saturday and Sunday and we’ll see what will happen after Sunday,” she said.
In an interview on May 13, Lucero initially said they would give the LGUs until Friday, May 15, to deliver the remaining SAP funds to qualified beneficiaries.
Should they fail to do so after Friday, the DSWD 7 said they would have to demand from the LGUs to return their unutilized funds, as agreed in their memorandum of agreement.
Lucero told SunStar Cebu: “We gave them until Friday but we’ve been advised by DSWD Manila to allow the LGUs to continue with the distribution of funds to the unpaid beneficiaries.”
The Department of Interior and Local Government, however, announced on Thursday, May 14, that for allegedly committing infractions in the distribution of government cash aid under its SAP, five LGUs in Central Visayas will be issued show cause orders (SCOs).
The DILG, however, did not name the LGUs. Central Visayas has a total of 132 LGUs.
Sought for comment, DILG 7 director Leocadio Trovela, in a message to SunStar Cebu, said they have yet to receive copies of the SCOs for the concerned mayors.
DILG 7 earlier said it has submitted a report on the accomplishment of LGUs, including those with a performance rate of 79 percent and below. Some of these LGUs had sent their justification to the head office and were assessed.
Lucero said 956,524 out of the total allocation of 1,058,075 low-income households in the region have received the P6,000 SAP assistance, as of 12 p.m. on May 15.
This totaled to P5.7 billion which is about 90 percent of the entire P6.3 billion SAP fund allocated for Central Visayas.
Republic Act 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, which instituted the SAP, aims to mitigate the effects of the crisis brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
The first distribution deadline set by the DILG was on April 30. It was moved to May 7 and then again to May 10.
Lucero said 36 LGUs have already finished their liquidation. Right now, she said, the validation and posting of the paid beneficiaries are ongoing.
She said the validation process they use is crossmatching, in which the names of the paid beneficiaries will be crossmatched to their list of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) household beneficiaries.
The SAP is supposedly for non-4Ps beneficiaries only. If there is duplication during the crossmatching, the beneficiary becomes ineligible to avail himself of the cash aid. (WBS)