DSWD sues 14 Iloilo City execs for taking bulk of cash aid
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has accused 12 barangay officials and two City Hall personnel in Iloilo City, of forcing beneficiaries to give up the bulk of the P10,000 cash aid they received under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program.
On Thursday, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian filed before the Office of the Ombudsman graft and administrative complaints against the barangay officials and City Hall personnel. Gatchalian, however, withheld the names of the respondents and their respective barangays to avoid compromising the ongoing investigation.
“The perpetrators are barangay captains, barangay kagawads [councilors], barangay treasurer [and] barangay-appointed officials. They are 14 in total,” he said in a press briefing after the filing of the complaint.
Suspension sought
The DSWD asked the Ombudsman to investigate the 14 officials for possible violations of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), grave misconduct, abuse of authority under Section 60(e), Chapter IV, Title II, Book I of the Local Government Code of the Philippines, as well as violations of Section 4(c) of Republic Act No. 6713.
The DSWD also requested that a preventive suspension order be issued against the 14 officials to prevent them from interfering with the investigation.
Same experience
According to Gatchalian, the payouts for the AICS program happened on Nov. 7, Nov. 11 and Nov. 12 in 16 barangays in Iloilo City.
The case involves the P10,000 food assistance to be handed out to each beneficiary. Under the AICS program, the funds are to be received and released by the DSWD field offices strictly in accordance with the program’s guidelines and client eligibility.
In its complaint, the DSWD cited a Nov. 11 incident in its Western Visayas field office in which “certain individuals” allegedly distributed only P2,000 to each beneficiary and withheld the remaining P8,000.
The complaints were based on the accounts of 14 beneficiaries, Gatchalian said, adding that their stories were similar to each other, even though they came from different barangays. The victims claimed that their experiences were nothing new since these have been happening since the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Gatchalian, the AICS beneficiaries said they received only P1,000 or P2,000 of the P10,000 cash assistance. They added that they were told by the respondents that if they did not agree to the arrangement, their names would be taken off the list of DSWD beneficiaries.
Citing AICS rules, the DSWD emphasized that the full amount received during the official payout belongs solely to the beneficiaries and that “no one is allowed to take or reduce any portion of the assistance, whether during or after the payout.”
