Duterte vows to jail execs in SAP scandal
Any local government official involved in the anomalous distribution of financial aid to poor beneficiaries will be thrown in jail, President Duterte warned on Tuesday.
The President said he would be unforgiving to local officials who “mess with” the funds intended for poor families struggling amid the pandemic, adding that the “the law is the law.”
“Nagsabi na ako nang prangkahan na huwag na huwag na huwag ninyong haluan ng kalokohan ang mga programa na ito sa COVID, kasi kailangan ito at marami talaga ang nangangailangan ng tulong, at sinabi ko sa inyo hindi ko kayo papatawarin ‘pag nagkamali kayo dito (I said frankly, do not ever mess with the programs on COVID because many people need this assistance. I also said I will not forgive you if you make a mistake),” Duterte said during a televised public address Tuesday night.
“So the law is the law is the law. A rule is a rule is a rule and you – when you begin to mess with the law, talagang ginagarantiya ko sa inyo na makukulong talaga kayo (I guarantee that you will be jailed),” he said.
Duterte issued the warning after receiving a report on the police investigation into dozens of barangay officials for alleged irregularities in the aid distribution.
In the briefing with the President, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año
reported that around 183 barangay officials are under investigation for alleged irregular implementation of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP). Two officials have already been arrested and are now in jail, he told the President.
“From those investigated, we have filed 12 cases, will ready 4 cases for filing, while 58 others are being handled,” Año said in Pilipino.
The DILG chief said they have also directed 48 mayors to explain the reported delay in the distribution of subsidy assistance to the beneficiaries in their areas of jurisdiction.
“There are 48 mayors who have been asked to explain because they were not able to meet the deadline. They had below 80 percent accomplishment,” he said in Pilipino.
Año said around 97 percent of the distribution of the SAP has been completed. The four regions that met the deadline early are Region I, Region V, Region XII, and Caraga.
Local government units have also been ordered to make public the list of subsidy beneficiaries for transparency as well as those who received the aid twice.
"We urge those who received double benefits to return the aid so other people who have yet to receive the aid will be given priority in the second tranche,” the DILG chief said in Pilipino.
Año has also directed LGUs to submit the names of the five million households left out in the previous aid distribution. These families will be prioritized in the second tranche.
Duterte said the 5 million households will be prioritized.
Short of funds
In the same public address, Duterte said that as much as he wants to give cash aid to everyone affected by the COVID-19 lockdown, it would be difficult since the government is short of tax collections.
He said the government has to be wise in spending money after having no income due to the quarantine.
“Now, let's be thrifty. We want everyone to receive the cash assistance but the problem is we have no income,” he said in Pilipino during the pandemic task force meeting.
“Alam naman ninyong walang nagbabayad ng buwis for all of the months that we were under a lockdown or a quarantine. So remember that we are short of tax collections,” he added.
The President, however, assured that the SAP beneficiaries will still receive the second tranche of the emergency subsidy but the additional 5 million families would be prioritized.
"The 18 million will be ready and we are prioritizing the 5 million na hindi nakatanggap (who did not get assistance)," he said.
“Please understand. We are all suffering anyway and we did not ask for this,” he added in Pilipino.
In the same meeting, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rolando Bautista lauded the beneficiaries who returned the cash assistance they received, and also the local government units (LGUs) who volunteered to help those who were not included in the first tranche using their own funds.
President Duterte's eighth weekly report to Congress on Monday revealed that 16,996,999 families were served by the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis (AICS) Program as of May 15.
So far, the government has disbursed ₱100.61 billion of the allotted ₱101.4 billion, ₱96.02 billion of which has been received by the beneficiaries.
SAP 2 goes digital According to Bautista, the DSWD has tapped the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in distributing the second tranche of the SAP.
"We have already coordinated with the AFP and PNP so they can assist us in distributing the subsidy especially in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas, isolated barangays, and island municipalities," he said in Pilipino.
Bautista, however, said that they will also be making use of digital payments for the second tranche of the program.
"This is good because not only it will make the distribution faster, there will be no physical contact as well," he said in Pilipino.
"We expect that since there are remittance centers and banks in HUCs or urban areas the distribution this time will be much easier," he added in Pilipino.
President Duterte has ordered Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado to scrutinize the line budgets of every department to see if there are funds that can be realigned for the second tranche of the SAP.
Driver-beneficiaries Meanwhile, the DSWD said it has submitted to the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) the “master list of cleared beneficiaries” for the next batch of drivers of Transportation Network Vehicle Services (TNVS), motorcycle taxis (MC), and public utility vehicles (PUVs) who will receive the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) emergency subsidy.
The DSWD assured the public that it is “continuously crossmatching and validating the list provided by LTFRB by batches to ensure that the drivers in the list have not yet received assistance from other government agencies during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ)."
It disclosed that as of May 14, 2020, a total of 62,028 qualified MC, PUV, and TNVS drivers have already been served and got their SAP subsidy, amounting to ₱496.2 million. (With reports from Argyll B. Geducos and Charissa L. Atienza)