DSWD has limited capacity to implement cash transfers under tax reform proposal – Taguiwalo

Secretary Judy Taguiwalo on Wednesday admitted that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has limited capacity to implement the cash transfers intended for poor families under the tax reform program.

Under the tax reform proposal, some 10 million families will receive cash transfers of P200 per month for one year to cushion the impact of the excise tax on fuel.

“If the law is passed, the department will be able to administer the cash transfer for the 4.4 million current beneficiaries [of 4Ps] so it’s going to be a top-up. But the remaining 5.6 million, we won’t be able to handle,” Taguiwalo said during her second confirmation hearing at the Commission on Appointments (CA).

Taguiwalo was referring to the 4.4 million households that will benefit from the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in 2018. The proposed budget for 4Ps is P89.4 billion.

“Now, [administering 4Ps] is already a heavy burden for our workers,” she told the bicameral body.

Taguiwalo said the DSWD is in discussions with the Department of Finance, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Land Bank of the Philippines “on how to best transfer this even without limitation.”

“It is a challenge right now. I hope the different government agencies can come together so that relief can be given to the poor, given the increases when the bill becomes a law. But I’m not saying it cannot be done. It will be difficult, an administrative challenge but it is not a challenge to our department alone,” she said.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Taguiwalo’s admission that the DSWD has a limited capacity to implement the cash transfers under the tax reform proposal just confirms his “fear.”

“If it is not clear with you, the whole program will collapse,” Drilon said.

The tax reform proposal is still pending at the Senate for its approval.

The DSWD earlier expressed its reservations on the proposal, saying lowered income tax rates will not benefit the poor, as they have no income in the first place.

The proposed tax reform package seeks to lower personal income tax rates, while increasing excise tax rates on petroleum products and automobiles and expanding the value-added tax base as some of the compensating measures. — RSJ, GMA News