In line with the implementation of its recovery support to low-income families in the informal sector under the Livelihood Assistance Grants (LAG), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) assured the public that all beneficiaries receive their grants in full by closely monitoring the disbursement of cash assistance.
Through its monitoring mechanisms, DSWD continues to validate and monitor the distribution of LAG to ensure that the grants were utilized by target beneficiaries for their chosen livelihood projects, as identified by their respective local government units (LGUs).
The LAG is among the Department’s efforts to support the establishment and rehabilitation of livelihood of families affected by the imposition of community quarantine due to the pandemic. It is part of the recovery phase of the Social Amelioration Program, which aims to help pandemic-hit families recover from economic losses by providing support to their new or existing micro-enterprise projects and/or augmenting their expenses for pre-employment requirements.
Meanwhile, the Department reminded its beneficiaries that it takes no engagement with any cooperatives for its disbursement of LAG, contrary to the recent issue involving a certain Magic 7 Cooperative. The DSWD Field Office (FO) III received a report that the said cooperative is allegedly deducting and collecting a part of the grants, which was intended for the eligible LAG beneficiaries.
The Department clarified that the DSWD (FO) III has no history and existing transactions with the said cooperative. Furthermore, the DSWD is currently conducting fact-finding on the alleged complaint and is willing to fully cooperate with the investigating body on this issue.
Moreover, the DSWD FO III emphasized that it prepared the cash assistance payroll for LAG based on the final list of beneficiaries provided by the LGU, and in accordance with the existing accounting and auditing rules. Likewise, the full amount of grants indicated in the payroll were directly distributed to the beneficiaries.
To date, some 22,122 LAG beneficiaries in the region have received their livelihood assistance, with a total of P241,550,934.00 amount disbursed.
The DSWD vowed that there is no irregularity in the distribution of grants. For any similar incident, the Department encourages the public to immediately report this to the Agency Operations Center Hotline 8888.
