Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte pleaded with the Department of Social Welfare and Development to show compassion, as she deplored the unnecessary tedious process waitlisted QCitizens had to go through to claim their financial assistance under the second tranche of the Social Amelioration Program.
“Nagmamakaawa ako sa liderato ng DSWD na huwag na nating pahirapan ng husto ang aming mga nasasakupan. Hindi po nila kailangang magsakripisyo ng ganyang kahabang oras gayung sila rin naman ang nakakubra ng unang ayuda,” Belmonte said.
“May report akong natanggap na pati bedridden pinilit na papuntahin sa payout site para lang sa verification. Hindi naman makatao yun,” she added.
In Bgy. Bagbag, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) personnel finished the distribution of the second tranche of SAP at 3:00 am today. Payout in other barangays ended late at night or in the wee hours of the morning, like Barangays Gulod, Capri, San Bartolome and Nagkaisang Nayon.
Distribution of SAP second tranche for 27,051 waitlisted beneficiaries started yesterday at 82 of the city’s 142 barangays, but with a limited number of DSWD personnel manning the payout sites. Another round of manual payout is yet to be scheduled for the remaining 68,255 beneficiaries. These 95,306 beneficiaries should have received their ayuda last year as part of emergency subsidy program under the Bayanihan to Heal as one Act. The DSWD engaged the services of financial service providers, but the funds were returned to the government when the beneficiaries failed to get their share, prompting DSWD to conduct manual payment anew.
Some barangays also reported that the DSWD is not honoring the barangay ID and requiring them to submit a residency certificate instead. Other barangays experienced a delay in the payout as only a few DSWD personnel are delivering the funds to each of the 82 payout centers.
“Sa report ng ating mga kapitan ng barangay, tumatagal ang payout dahil kaunti ang mga tauhan ng DSWD sa site at hindi naman pinapayagang tumulong sa releasing ng pera ang mga tauhan ng City Treasurer’s Office at barangay para mapabilis ang sistema. Tapos sa verification, kapag tapos nang daanan ng ating QC Social Services Development Department (SSDD) personnel, icheck pa ulit ng DSWD. Minsan naman, hinihingan pa ng kung anu-anong dokumento. Sila ang nasa listahan precisely because they received the first tranche of assistance, so why prolong their agony?” Belmonte said.
Belmonte noted that last month, distribution of the P1,000 financial assistance to about 2.4 million individuals facilitated by the city under ECQ Ayuda 2021 only had minor kinks and finished way ahead of schedule because additional verifiers and personnel from the city government were deployed.
“Given the volume of beneficiaries we handled and that of the waitlisted now, it is indeed reprehensible why the DSWD is making it difficult for our QCitizens,” Belmonte said.
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