Duterte approved additional 4 million beneficiaries of emergency cash aid —Roque

An additional four million beneficiaries had been approved by President Rodrigo Duterte to receive cash aid under the social amelioration program, Palace spokesperson Harry Roque said Friday.

"Dati 18 million lang dapat ang pagbibigyan, naging desisyon ni Presidente lahat po ng nangangailangan dapat bigyan. So nadagdagan pa po 'yang 18 million na 'yan ng kung di ako nagkakamali, something like 4 million pa," Roque said in an interview on GMA News' Unang Balita.

"Based on current data at hindi 'yung 2015 data pa. So naging problema po 'yan kasi kinailangan maghabol ng mga pangalan," he added.

The Palace spokesman made the remark after the Department of Interior and Local Government extended the deadline for the distribution of the first tranche of the COVID-19 emergency subsidy program in selected areas.

According to President Rodrigo Duterte's third weekly report to Congress, "local government units which identified additional eligible family beneficiaries for the cash assistance can submit their lists to the DSWD for validation."

However, the estimated number of beneficiaries of the cash assistance from DSWD that was indicated in the President's latest report to the legislative department on April 27 remains at 18,046,093.

Another 1.3 million were identified to receive cash assistance from the Department of Labor and Employment and Department of Agriculture. 

Meanwhile, around 3.4 million middle income earners from 1.6 million small businesses are target beneficiaries of the wage subsidy program which shall be released in May.

GMA News Online reached out to Roque to clarify the figures he was referring to but has yet to receive a response as of posting time.

Several local government leaders previously said they had been caught in a muddle because their respective databases show that more of their constituents are in need of cash aid compared to the national government's estimated 18 million families.

Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act or Republic Act 11469, around 18 million low-income households belonging to the informal sector should be targeted to receive monthly emergency subsidies amounting to P5,000 to P8,000 for two months. The assistance shall be "computed based on the prevailing regional minimum wages rates."

Roque said the inter-agency task force handling the COVID-19 response expects a smoother distribution of the second tranche of cash assistance.—AOL, GMA News