Families assail DSWD over rules; non-release of amelioration funds

Acknowledging Ibon Foundation for this infographic

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE- Nearly 50 families claiming they were affected due to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) trooped to the office of the municipal social welfare and development (MSWD) in the recent days asking why they were not included as beneficiaries of the government’s emergency subsidy program (ESP) of the social amelioration program (SAP.

This, as DSWD Spokesperson  Irene Dumlao advised families who think they are eligible to avail of the P5,000-P8,000 ESP-SAP financial assistance but did not avail to appeal to their respective local MSWDs; and for the local MSWDs to validate the list of eligible beneficiaries outside of the target indicative beneficiaries.

The Bayanihan to Heal as One Act or RA 11469 provides P200 billion fund for18 million low income and poor families affected by ECQ with an ESP of P5,000 to P8,000 each for two months with guidelines on target beneficiaries based on the Joint Memorandum Circular No.1 series of 2020.

Said JMC refers to special guidelines on the provision of social amelioration measures by the department of social welfare and development IDSWD), department of labor and employment (DOLE), department of trade and industry (DTI), department of agriculture (DA), department of finance (DOF), department of budget and management (DBM), and department of the interior and local government (DILG)t to the most affected residents of the areas under the ECQ.

The ESP fund’s implementation is managed by DSWD using quota system where each municipality or city will be given a fixed amount from the P200-billion SAP fund based on the Department of Finance’s data from the 2015 census.

Here in the Cordillera, DSWD regional Director Leo Quintilla in an orientation in Baguio City for barangay officials said the amount of P1.3 billion was allotted for 300,000 families for the Cordillera Administrative Region. 

In Sagada only 1,510 families representing 43% of 3,500 families including stranded workers  availed of the ESP.  Sagada is a 5th class municipality with some 80% farmers, with some 570 registered businesses of which some 200 entrepreneurs are into tourism based business including homestays and souvenir shops and nearly 900 tourist guides and some 200 drivers/operators affected with the ECQ.

In the same development, Sagada  resident- netizens complained of not having availed of the ESP of the SAP given in the amount of P5,000 to P8,000 depending on regional geographical locations where low income families barely earn less than the poverty threshold of P12,577.00 per month for a family of six. 

Facebook posts of aggrieved persons showed frustration from their comments followed up by this writer.

                For one, couple Maria and John are senior citizens. Maria also maintains a little store with stock they slowly consumed due to the lockdown. Both are rice farmers on a small parcel of lot as they wait for the harvest season this July. In an interview, Maria claimed they did not avail because MSWD said her family maintains a store during the lockdown so they have a source of income. 

John’s family did not receive the ESP-SAP financial assistance from DSWD.

And many more.

Maritess Lawagey, MSWD staff here said the complaining individuals have varied cases and cannot be accommodated due to the guidelines of DSWD.

JMC No. 1 followed up with the Memorandum Circular No. 9 of the DSWD providing omnibus guidelines in the implementation of the ESP-SAP.

“We explained to them the reasons why they cannot avail”, Lawagey said.

As provided in the JMC No.1, target beneficiaries of the ESP of SAP are “families that belong to either the poor or informal sector which are at risk of not earning a living” during the ECQ who may have at least one member belonging to any of the vulnerable or disadvantaged sectors.

Said DSWD guidelines provide guidance on the implementation of assistance to individuals in crisis situations (AICS) and livelihood assistance grants (LAG) in the provision of basic necessities amelioration and recovery of target beneficiaries.

DSWD Memorandum Circular No 9 lists those who shall avail namely the following: 4Ps beneficiaries, families with low income or no income to draw from including those working in the informal sector, and indigent indigenous peoples and vulnerable sectors of society.  

DSWD says families with low income are those who have no income, low income or no savings to draw from including those working in the informal sector as directly hired, subcontracted workers, homeworkers, house helpers, homeworkers, drivers whose daily sustenance is solely dependent on the income they derive from, micro entrepreneurs and operators of sari sari stores, family enterprise owners managing family business, sub minimum wage earners, farmer’s fisher folks and stranded workers.

As said DSWD memo circular No 9 provides eligible families are indigent families of indigenous people are other vulnerable groups include those living an ancestral domain whose income solely depend on subsistence economy, under privileged and homeless individuals whose income falls below the poverty threshold as defined by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

Said memorandum also identified eligible as overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in distress and other vulnerable groups including senior citizens, persons with disabilities, lactating and pregnant women provided that in the determination of vulnerable groups they are qualified as families.  

Those who are excluded in the ESP-SAP are elected and appointed government officials, contracted personnel, employees in the private sector or those in the oral economy, retired individuals who are receiving pension and families with independent financial capacity.

Guidelines while these were particularly identified however showed that "criteria has been open for misinterpretation by validators" as noted by netizen Modesto Gaab.

A Sagada resident- netizen, CarmenBistang CotengAbeya LebengGayyad claimed a 71-year-old woman who lived in the barangay for eight years and not a registered voter was not given a Social Amelioration Card (SAC) form to fill up and receive the ESP cash assistance. 

 Low Income

Families with no or low income are an open scrutiny where some were listed as SAP beneficiaries while others were not.

A couple, Pedro and Jane are farmers. They have to wait for July to harvest rice before they can turn the rice field patch into a vegetable garden. They have a passenger jeepney which is not regularly operating due to the lockdown. Pedro claimed MSWD did not include them because they are operating a jeepney during the lockdown so they have a source of income.

Their verbal complaints to MSWD eventually included them as ESP beneficiaries among other nine complainants, Jane said.

                Patricia is a vendor who carries her basket of vegetables to the main town every market day. She lives alone as her children have their own families to think of. Her income reaches barely P10,000 a month.

Patricia said she was not included and upon further follow up by this writer said she was told to half the subsidy with his brother who has a separate family. 

Another is Jessa, a missionary and works as a tofu distributor to help her through her everyday needs. She cannot anymore travel to the source of tofu due to the lockdown. A resident who stays in the same barangay said  Jessa  was not included as an ESP beneficiary.  

Of particular case is a daycare worker, frontliner at the hub, has a little store and has a child she is sending to school. But she cannot qualify as an as ESP beneficiary because she is working as a daycare worker in government. Day care workers barely receive P5,000 honoraria a month. 

Low income families are a target group in the JMC guidelines and DSWD Memorandum No 9 but identifying beneficiaries take a confusing and questionable way of how MSWD identifies ESP-beneficiaries.

                Low income families according to NEDA are those earning P12,577.00 per month for a family of six based on the 2018 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES).

The DSWD  revealed that there are only 4 million low income families who availed representing 22.2% among targeted 18 million SAP beneficiaries as of April 16.

Also, among 435,619 PUV drivers as research group  Ibon Foundation noted, only 15,864 availed of the cash assistance while the number of informal workers assisted is only 2.3 percent of 5.2 million non-agricultural informal earners.

The number of assisted drivers composes nine percent of the targeted 435,000 drivers.

Ibon also noted the farmers who have received cash assistance is only 3.3 percent of the Ibon-estimated 9.7 million farmers, farm workers and fisher folk needing assistance.

 Discrimination

Issues of discrimination face the implementation of the ESP with complaints including a market vendor here who claimed he was not given while another market vendor availed of the cash assistance.

Questions hover on the issue of a senior citizen not receiving ESP because she or he has a regular pension from either SSS or GSIS or social pension (SocPEn) while another under the care of her daughter who works in government received the cash assistance anyway.

Most senior citizens are in the care of their children and it is rare that they live alone.

 Overseas Filipino Workers

Another most asked question is an OFW expected to send money to their families back home and family in Philippines not included as a SEP-SAP beneficiary.

OFWs in other parts of the country are facing more or less similar situations where some were laid off due to places in lock down situations thus the exodus of a number of OFWs who went home during this Covid-19 pandemic.

Its effect in the country is staggering where families dependent on OFW money are not listed to avail of the ESP cash assistance.

Sagada resident and netizen Schanaley Pucay claims he was not identified as a SAP beneficiary because the barangay did not list him as a beneficiary as his wife is an OFW. Karlo who takes care of their two children and maintains a small parcel of rice field said harvest shall yet be by July. He said his wife who went to Hongkong as a domestic helper late last year has not yet transmitted any finance since March. 

Netizen Florence Cayboen being an OFW at UK said  “na lockdown kmi gedan, kaaduan ken dakami isna, no work no pay, amed no undocumented, am sure kaaduan ken dakami et maid nin paw it.” (we are also into lockdown and most of those who came here are into ‘no work no pay’ situation much more so if undocumented status. Am sure most of us did not send any money back home)

Netizen JesRenz Dicang  based overseas said “md inbgana cd en ban pamilyan d OFW et adida maagtan,,ty patin pamilya mi metlang et na lockdown,,cna et adun namaid metlang ubla ty adun nin close ay company,,force leave nan tapina,,umalaan d ngen metlang c ipaw it da,,dat no work no pay py. (it didn’t say in the guidelines that families of OFWs shall not be given because even our families are in a lockdown. Here many lost their jobs because many closed their stores and many employees are on forced leave so where shall OFWs get money to send home, much more so that it is no work, no pay).

                Similarly, Sagada resident and netizen Cathy Alisson, solo parent and stranded in Lepanto, Benguet did not receive any cash assistance from DSWD. She said the local MSWD told her that she is not a resident at Lepanto so she cannot avail.

Validation and SAC forms

ESP-SAP beneficiaries are supposed to be profiled through the use of the social amelioration card (SAC) where registration into the SAC is done by identified personnel of the LGU on a house to house basis.

From the list that the barangay shall give to the MSWD, the latter shall validate the listed name and given the SAC forms  and the validated families avail of the ESP-SAP cash assistance.

Some complaining families however complain of not being included as beneficiaries as previously noted.

Sagada resident and netizen E Gnab Nosira Nayelap asked how barangays came up with a list when they did not interview families.

This probably explains why some families, even if affected by the quarantine did not receive social amelioration cards or forms.

Sagada resident and netizen Richard Yodong said there should be more field work to validate beneficiaries.  The Local Government Code should be amended to include a mandatory permanent plantilla for a barangay social worker, Yodong sa

Where the barangay and/or the MSWD did not  include  the name of a supposed eligible ESP beneficiary, the DSWD has appealed that LGUs will shoulder the supposed  financial aid under the LGUs own supplemental social amelioration program. 

Meantime, another subsidy that DSWD provides for ECQ-affected informal family workers is the amount of not more than P15,000 financial livelihood assistance grant (LAG) to be given after the ECQ period.