DESPITE the ongoing investigation into the sale of PWD identification cards in Cebu City, eligible persons with disability (PWDs) will still receive their financial assistance from the City Government in the third week of June 2024.
Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia said the P3,000 cash assistance, which will cover the months of April, May and June, will be distributed a week after senior citizens receive theirs on June 14 and 15.
Garcia, in a phone interview on Tuesday, June 4, assured that the recipients are all eligible PWDs, with the number of individuals considered not eligible relatively few.
“Very negligible, uy. Gamay ra gyud, di daghan (Only a small number, not that many) unlike what people think,” he said.
City Councilor James Anthony Cuenco earlier exposed the scam involving the sale of PWD IDs issued by the City Government to able-bodied individuals for P2,000 to P4,000.
Cuenco, in a phone interview with SunStar Cebu on Tuesday, agreed with the date of distribution, saying he did not want the beneficiaries to wait any longer.
He said the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) has time to finish auditing the beneficiaries.
“Yes, definitely amoa nang tiwason before sa third week sa June kay ang akong estimate kay one to two weeks man, sakto ragyud kaayo,” said Cuenco.
(Yes, definitely we will finish before the third week of June because, according to my estimates, we will finish in one to two weeks. It’s just enough time.)
Cuenco told SunStar Cebu that he already went to the DSWS office in Barangay Labangon last Monday, June 3, and ordered the staff to audit and verify the PWD IDs and complete these in one to two weeks.
Probe
An executive session will be conducted on Thursday, June 6, inviting City Hall employees who may be involved in the PWD ID scheme.
When he delivered his privilege speech last May 22, Cuenco filed a motion inviting Cerj Germudo, John Tolentino and Jay-R Cam, all from the office of suspended Mayor Michael Rama, and JJ Laurel, formerly assigned to the DSWS but now with the Road Management Authority, to an executive session to shed light on the allegations.
“Ako gyud ni sila i-pressure with my questions so that makatug-an gyud sila kung kinsa ang ilang mastermind,” Cuenco said.
(I will pressure them to divulge the identity of the mastermind.)
“I don’t care whoever nga maligsan or ma-identify (the person is). Dili ko moundang hangtod dili siya ma (I will not stop until the person is) prosecuted. No matter who he or she may be,” Cuenco said.
DSWS head Portia Basmayor, in a separate interview, said she had no inkling that PWD IDs were being sold since she only assumed office last March 11.
Basmayor said the selling of PWD IDs might have taken place last year. / CDF