Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto asked Monday the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) the remaining P10 billion funds the agency failed to distribute under the Special Amelioration Program (SAP).
“If under the worst-case scenario it can be given late November, then it can qualify as a Christmas ayuda (assistance),” Recto said.
“And if President Duterte would back a proposal for a third round of SAP this Christmas, he will have the backing of both houses of Congress,” he added.
Recto said Filipinos face a dreary Christmas, and “some monetary cheer from the government will go a long way.”
The senator noted that the government’s Christmas aid could be distributed through several platforms, not just SAP.
“For PUV drivers, it can be in the form of service contracts in which drivers are given a fixed amount for ferrying passengers,” Recto said.
“It can be through livelihood projects like village-level mask production. Or short work-for-food programs in the maintenance or building of road, bicycle, and agricultural infrastructure,” he added.
Recto added not all aids should be in cash, like the privilege to work again.
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Recto to DSWD: Distribute P10B aid as Christmas ‘ayuda’
“These would include allowing drivers of motor-taxis, under the most stringent health and safety protocols, to ply the streets again,” he pointed out.
Last week, senators were disappointed to learn that there is still P10 billion in aid funds for poor Filipinos under the Bayanihan law that were not distributed by the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) and declared “savings.”
The DSWD announced at a budget hearing in the Senate that the fund was accumulated when four million people were removed from the SAP due to “double compensation.” Each beneficiary could get P5,000 to P8,000 cash aid.
According to Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, the DSWD’s failure to distribute the P10 billion is contrary to the government’s intention to stimulate the economy in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senator Sonny Angara, chairman of the finance committee, hopes that the DSWD will immediately distribute such funds to those in need.