Lawmakers have some questions on cash aid for poor families ahead of President Rodrigo Duterte’s eighth weekly report to Congress on his special powers to tackle the COVID-19 crisis.
Senate Social Justice Committee Chair Leila de Lima, in particular, raised a question on the government’s plan to cut cash aid beneficiaries in the second tranche of its distribution. In the second wave of the Social Amelioration Program, only families in areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) will be covered–excluding those who are under general community quarantine (GCQ).
De Lima, in her comment on Duterte’s seventh report on his special powers, suggested that the decision is illegal and unfair, citing the provision of Bayanihan to Heal as One Act that granted the president special powers and provided that 18 million low-income families should get subsidies ranging from ₱5,000 to ₱8,000 for two months.
“This perfunctory exclusion of those 15.5 million families, who are in the non-ECQ areas starting May 16, is also unfair — nay, inhumane — considering that they would have already spent the first half of the month of May still in lockdown,” she said.
Since the second tranche of cash aid would now be directly handled by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, along with the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, De Lima also wanted the executive to clarify the role of local government units in distribution.
Senator Joel Villanueva, meanwhile, asked what the DSWD plans to do to help the remaining beneficiaries who have not yet received any cash aid. DSWD data show that 17.2 million of the target 18 million families have been served by the cash aid program, leaving around five percent of beneficiaries still not receiving financial assistance.
Villanueva also wanted to know why the distribution of aid to drivers of public utility vehicles and transportation network vehicle services “froze” at 44.9 percent of the target beneficiaries.
Congress granted Duterte in March additional powers to enable the administration to handle the COVID-19 crisis, but it required him to report back to the legislature and the public every week about his administration’s response against the disease.
