The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Sunday admitted being hard pressed to act immediately on around 2,000 complaints received by the agency regarding the anomalies related to the distribution of subsidies under the social amelioration program (SAP).
Despite the mounting challenges, DILG Undersecretary for Barangay Affairs Martin Diño vowed to run after the culprits of these shameless irregularities.
However, Diño assured that standard protocols on due process will still be followed in the name of fairness and justice.
In an interview with GMA, Diño said the complaints mostly received by the DILG were about barangay chairmen providing cash aid to unqualified persons specifically their relatives and supporters.
In some instances, Diño said that rogue barangay officials ask for P2,000 processing fees.
Other complainants claimed that some individuals were being included in the list in exchange for P1,000 or as much as half of the allotted subsidies.
There were also complaints that poor household members, who only resided in the particular barangay after 2015, were also not included in the roster of qualified recipients.
To recall, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) based the number of poor families in each barangay to its 2015 survey.
Since the number of poor families have increased since then, the local government units (LGUs) are now faced with the predicament of assessing who among the beneficiaries should be prioritized in getting the financial aid under the SAP.
DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya assured that this problem is being resolved as five million families on top of the initial 18 million recipients in the first batch will be provided with cash aid during the second tranche. (Chito A. Chavez)