Villar questions NEDA statistics on poor families receiving SAP subsidies

May 20 ------ Senator Cynthia Villar said the middle-class families should no longer be receiving cash aid from the government since they supposedly continue to earn despite the quarantine restrictions imposed by the government. At the Senate Committee of the Whole’s inquiry on the government’s COVID-19 response on Tuesday, Villar questioned the basis of the 18-million target beneficiaries for the emergency subsidy program mandated by the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.

“Hindi ko ma-accept ‘yong figure na ‘yon kasi masyadong mataas. Kasi nade-deprive ‘yung mahihirap, at binibigyan pati ‘yong middle class,” she said. Citing government data, Villar said the 18 million comprise 82 percent of the total 22 million of families in the country as of 2015, when some 59 percent have only been considered as poor and low-income households.

“So bakit bibigyan ‘yong middle [class] eh may trabaho sila? Kahit lockdown, nagsusuweldo sila sa gobyerno, kung employed by the government. Kung employed naman ng mga private, nagsusuweldo din sila. Kaya nga nahihirapan ‘yong mga companies because they have to pay the salaries even if there is no business,” she asked the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“Kasi kami libu-libo ang empleyado namin, kahit hindi sila napasok, sinusuwelduhan namin sila. Eh bakit sila pa ang bibigyan ng SAP (So why do they have to benefit from the social amelioration program)? Eh mapalad sila may sweldo sila,” said Villar, whose family is engaged in real estate, retail and utility businesses, among others. DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista said the figure was based on the 2015 census, and the agency’s Listahanan which listed 15 million families within the “poorest of the poor” bracket.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua said the number of indigent families had to be adjusted to 18 million in consideration of the country’s population growth. “To be accurate, we had to do a projection from 2015 to 2020. Otherwise, kulang kasi we have population growth,” he explained to Villar. For 2020, they estimated that there would be 24.6 million families, 18 million of which could be considered as belonging to the “no work no pay” sector, Chua said. Villar asked the DSWD to submit a list identifying the 18 million beneficiaries to address confusion on the distribution of the cash aid to poor families.

Source: mb.com.ph