Zap the SAP, forego the POGO

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY -- The agencies tasked to distribute the emergency subsidy money under the social amelioration program (SAP) keep repeating that local government units  would be held accountable for giving the subsidy to non-eligible families and ordered to return the amounts. Unwittingly by doing so, they continue to contradict themselves.

While the guidelines state under the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act (RA 11469) that LGUs would be investigated to determine their administrative, civil or criminal liability; the concerned agencies have to be aware that investigations may backfire on them.

This is so because in the distribution of the financial assistance; the LGUs, particularly the barangays, were tapped to help the Dept. of Social Works and Development in the identification of target beneficiaries because they know the profile and background of their constituents.

After a list of would-be recipients is submitted to the DSWD, a validation team is sent out by the agency to verify the details on the spot to determine the eligibility of the beneficiaries.

Putting the blame on the LGU barangay whose participation is simply to identify and prioritize beneficiaries is unfair as finality in the whole process comes only after careful verification by the DSWD personnel who interviews the would-be recipient.

There might be crooked barangay officials somewhere but a majority of them who honestly perform their roles worry about investigations and penalties floating above their heads. That hampered the distribution of the financial assistance for the poor families.

Added to that, the DSWD admitted the fact that it has limited capacity in implementing the emergency subsidy program that was why it sought the assistance of the barangays in the distribution of the cash subsidies.

Under Republic Act 11469, around 18 million low-income families with monthly income lower than P10,000 are entitled to receive an emergency subsidy ranging from P5,000.00 to P8,000.00 for two months from April to May.

But the release of the second tranche of the subsidy for the month of May could be delayed unless and until the LGUs zap the SAP of the first tranche of cash subsidy for the month of April.

It was announced that an extension of the distribution of the emergency cash subsidies for April will be until May 10. After this, LGUs should submit a liquidation report on the payout of the first tranche of the SAP to expedite release for the second tranche.

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Before the Luzon-wide ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) last March 15, it was revealed during a Senate blue ribbon committee hearing that crimes such as money laundering and other evil activities were associated with the operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO).

Committee chair Dick Gordon said the amount of money that were suspiciously brought into the country from September 2019 to March 2020 reached US$633,028,880 or PhP32,024,931,043.

With that, there is a need for law enforcers to keep up with, if not keep one step ahead of criminals who are into money laundering, while lawmakers have to take a look at gaps in the Bank Secrecy Law and the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA).

In failing to address corruption by not amending the AMLA, Bank Secrecy Law and other similar laws, this might be misinterpreted that authorities are tolerating money laundering.

For Senator Ping Lacson, bringing in and out of the country huge sums of money with impunity indicates the urgent need for action from government, not just by the Executive but also by the Legislative.

Remember, Sen. Lacson experienced being at the receiving end of abuse of the law by Ador Mawanay, Mary ‘Rosebud’ Ong, Victor Corpus and even by the Arroyos that prompted him to waive his rights under the Bank Secrecy Law and dared them to withdraw all the dollars they claimed he owed.

I recall too that erstwhile media colleague Leslie Z. Hernandez reminded me of the urgency in amending the AMLA and that it could benefit us locals. He cited that construction boom, both by government and private, might possibly be financed with money from illegal sources.

It does not mean that our hardware outlets in the country owned by people with mono-syllabic names are corrupt but construction materials and even heavy equipment are imported through them.

Not one of us is aware if these imports were loaned to the hardware stores after the same were paid by foreign-based financiers with legal or dirty money. We have to know. If it is the latter, then our government is unwittingly a participant in the crime of money laundering.

 As for POGO operations, Congress can permanently block it by stopping government from granting new licenses because of issues on security aside from unpaid taxes, non-issuance of visa, human trafficking, prostitution, drug trafficking and money laundering.  

No wonder, even China President Xi Jinping stopped online gambling in his country to the extent that he personally appealed to President Duterte to ban offshore gaming companies in the Philippines.