Pacquiao seeks Senate probe on P10.4-billion 'undistributed ayuda'

Senator Manny Pacquiao on Thursday filed a resolution seeking a Senate investigation into the alleged failure of the Department of Social Welfare and Development to distribute P10.4 billion worth of Social Amelioration Program funds.

Pacquiao filed Senate Resolution 779 almost two weeks after he bared the alleged corruption in the distribution of cash doles through the e-wallet service Starpay.

“There is an urgent need to look into this anomaly to untangle the web of corruption involving DSWD and Starpay which has robbed our people of economic resources and denuded the government of its basic capacity to provide a lifeline to the vulnerable segment of the society that has been hit the hardest by the current pandemic,” Pacquiao wrote in the measure.

“Be it resolved by the Senate, to direct the appropriate Senate Committee to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, to look into and recover the P10.4 billion missing funds under the Social Amelioration Program disbursed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development through electronic wallet application Starpay,” he added.

Pacquiao claimed anew that only 500,000 out of the total projected 1.8 million beneficiaries were able to download the Starpay application.

He said that under the disbursement scheme, beneficiaries would neither be able to receive nor withdraw any subsidy under the program without accessing and downloading Starpay application.

“This means around 1.3 million projected beneficiaries were unable to download the said e-wallet application and therefore could not have electronically received through Starpay the subsidy amounting to P10.4 billion earmarked for them. However, records from the DSWD show that all of these payouts have already been completed,” Pacquiao said.

Earlier, the DSWD denied that there were missing funds in the disbursement of financial aid for low-income families bearing the brunt of lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"All aid distributed is supported by liquidation reports that can be shared, if necessary. The agency ensures that the processes adopted by FSPs (financial service providers) on payouts are in accordance with BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas)-approved processes and existing government accounting rules and procedures," said DSWD in a statement.

DSWD said it terminated the services of FSPs, including Starpay, in April 2021 which prompted them to manually send the payouts for the unserved second tranche of cash aid beneficiaries.

The government agency said it is ready to face any probe into the allegations raised by Pacquiao.

As of July 2, 2021, DSWD said 14.88 million low-income families received the second tranche of cash aid with over P89.8 billion disbursed.

Meanwhile, more than 17 million poor families received their first tranche of cash aid with more than P98 billion disbursed.

Pacquiao made the allegations after President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out at him for claiming that corruption has worsened under the current administration.

Duterte challenged him to name the corrupt officials and he would do something about the matter.

Pacquiao accepted the president’s dare and bared alleged corruption in the DSWD, Department of Health and Department of Energy.

He first drew the ire of Duterte when he apparently criticized the president's stance on the West Philippine Sea issue. —NB, GMA News