Palace wants P10-B unused funds given to pandemic-troubled poor

Malacañang on Thursday said the Department of Social Welfare and Development should use the remaining P10 billion under the COVID-19 emergency cash assistance program to aid more poor households and vulnerable sectors.

“Dahil ‘yan po ay naibigay na ng Kongreso, kung pupuwede nga po ay ibigay pa po ‘yan doon sa mga pamilya na hindi pa nakakatanggap ng second tranche,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a news conference.

Several senators had also said the remaining funds should be distributed to families and individuals affected by the pandemic.

Roque made the statement after the DSWD said that it plans to use the P10 billion for other programs, such as livelihood assistance for over 600,000 households.

The first tranche of the cash aid, equivalent to P99.9 billion, was released to 17.9 million households from April to June.

A total of P94.5 billion was allocated for the second tranche but only P83.1 billion has been disbursed to some 13.92 million beneficiaries, according to the DSWD.

This came after the number of beneficiaries in the second wave of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) was reduced by four million due to "double compensation." —LBG, GMA News