Cayetano tells colleagues: Ensure faster delivery of services while seeking accountability

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano has called on his colleagues at the House of Representatives to ensure that measures are being put in place for the faster delivery of assistance to the public as they seek accountability from people involved in the provision of these services.

“We can continue to discuss how to hold people accountable not for the sake of being accountable, but to give people better services,” Cayetano said in his speech before the House adjourned sine die last week.

A number of resolutions are pending before the House seeking investigations into the alleged anomalies and mishandling in the implementation of the Social Amelioration Program, as well as urging the national government to fast-track the disbursement of the second tranche of the emergency subsidies to target beneficiaries.

Cayetano, in his speech, demanded accountability for the delays in the implementation of the government's measures to the COVID-19 crisis.

He urged assistant secretaries, undersecretaries, regional directors of various departments to help their secretaries to deliver efficiently and do away with the bureaucratic procedures that only delay the provision of assistance to those who need it.

The Speaker reminded his fellow public officials, especially those on the frontlines, of President Rodrigo Duterte's "mantra".

“Simple lang po sinasabi niya: ‘wag paiintayin ang tao, ibigay ang tamang serbisyo. Ganun din naman po ngayon. Nung naging Presidente siya at wala pang COVID, ‘di ba, sabi niya, ‘wag pong tatagal ang papeles sa mesa ng public official. Walang corruption dapat,” Cayetano said.

“Going into Bayanihan II, we commit to the Filipino people and to the President, we will be supportive, but we will follow the President’s lead, we will demand accountability. So, we will be asking the departments, we will be talking to them, we will be having an accounting,” he added.

Cayetano has assured that the second part of the Bayanihan Law, called the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act, will be "more responsive" and will include measures to improve the distribution of assistance under the Social Amelioration Program.

“Congress will be exercising its oversight functions to ensure that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated,” he said.

“We want also to ensure that SAP will be given to all Filipinos who need it most. We respect and acknowledge the tremendous work done by the departments involved, but our citizens cannot afford to wait that long. There must be a better way, and together we will find it,” he added.

Under the proposed second Bayanihan Law, a P162 billion standby fund will be appropriated and be used to support operations and response measures to address the COVID-19 crisis.

These include enhancement of healthcare services and COVID-19 testing, assistance to workers, the education sector, government financial institutions, the agriculture sector, tourism, among others.

The House Committee of the Whole approved the measure last Wednesday before it adjourned sine die. —KG, GMA News