NAPC bares tool gauging ‘ayuda’
Nationwide, this translates into 18 million low income families in Manila, the rest of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao
The government coordinating body in the war against poverty on Wednesday bared a tool helping determine if social amelioration funds or “ayuda” actually reached their intended beneficiaries.
Secretary Noel K. Felongco, chair of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPA), said the post distribution monitoring (PDM) survey tool is guaranteed to pinpoint with accuracy who actually received cash and food assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We believe that through this monitoring tool, we could assist the public sector in evaluating our existing framework to help ensure fast delivery of quality service to the Filipinos.
“Nationwide, this translates into 18 million low income families in Manila, the rest of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao,” he said. “The survey will show if the 5,000 pesos to 8,000 pesos ayuda reached them as mandated by the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.”
He said the survey tool will go a long way in ensuring the Duterte administration’s goal of bringing down poverty by 11 per cent will be realized in 2022.
Felongco bared the new survey tool in a virtual news conference. With him were NAPC vice chair for basic sectors Ruperto Aleroza, sectoral council representatives and Ron Mateo and Fernando Cao of the monitoring and evaluation committee and project development unit, respectively.
Felongco said the survey tool is in response to the clamor of communities whose sources of income were hard-hit in the early months of the pandemic. He said it can be shared with everyone.
He credited Ron Mateo’s team for developing the post-distribution monitoring survey tool.
The PDM survey aims to gather information and generate insights on the appropriateness, effectiveness and the immediate outcomes of the Social Amelioration Program, especially the cash subsidy as well as food and non-food relief packages.
In addition, the PDM seeks to strengthen government response by validating if the funds actually hit its intended beneficiaries.
It also sought to determine if social amelioration measures were appropriate and merit replication.
The tool likewise sought to assess strengths and weaknesses in the management of assistance that could affect the health and security of beneficiaries.
Felongco believes the roll-out of survey is a significant step in NAPC’s monitoring and evaluation of the government’s responses and efforts in mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We believe that through this monitoring tool, we could assist the public sector in evaluating our existing framework to help ensure fast delivery of quality service to the Filipinos. The consistency in the implementation and distribution of government aid is crucial during a pandemic and we could only achieve and maintain this by troubleshooting our existing processes and constantly tweaking it according to the specific needs of our people,” he said.
The World Bank projected poverty incidence in the Philippines at 20.8 percent by the end of 2019.