The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Davao City Field Unit has urged complainants to pursue their complaints against barangay officials who allegedly committed anomalies in the distribution of the Special Amelioration Program (SAP).
” Ang problema nato karon wala nata complainants kay most of them were afraid and mubalibad na,” Major Milgrace Driz, head of the unit, told TIMES in a phone interview on Wednesday afternoon, adding that the agency can only conduct an investigation but will have to shelve the case if complainants will not testify against those they have identified as having erred in the implementation of the program.
She said, however, that the investigators have gathered some proofs from other witnesses who qualified to become beneficiaries of the program.
The main contention of those complaints was they were not included in the list of beneficiaries even if they were among the poorest of the poor.
The key challenge, she added, was that some barangay officials recommended the names of those that were to become beneficiaries and that these were also limited to those who were able to secure the cards for the program/
“There were also those who complained that they did not receive SAP even if they were qualified because they were not included in the list (of beneficiaries), ” she further said.
Under the program process, the Department of Social WElfare and Development (DSWD), the lead agency in the program implementation, required the barangays to submit the list of the beneficiaries who were to be given cards as these were the ones to be provided with the assistance.
“So it was the call of the purok leaders who identified the poorest of the poor as they were the ones who submit their list to the barangays who in turn submitted the consolidated list to the DSWD which returned the list to the barangays complete with the payroll,” Driz said.
Before they could claim the assistance, beneficiaries needed to be interviewed by DSWD representatives to verify whether they could qualify.
“So katong nabagsak ang gihimo sa barangay gi pansakan ug laing pangalan na qualified mao tong naay nawala ug naa pud nabutang, medyo gubot, pero mao to pagpuli naghatag napud laing listahan sa pangalan so ana ang nahitabo sa ubang barangay, ” she further said.
In the investigation process, the DSWD will be asked to validate the list of beneficiaries, while the barangay officials will be required to identify those who they list as qualified recipients.
” But ang problema lang pud sa barangay there are others included in the list nga duol sa dughan jud pero qualified japun also nakita namo ang problema naay complaints hadlok lang sila mo stand gyud, ” she further said.
Recently, the agency received about 10 complaints against barangay officials in the city in relation to the implementation of the program. “We are conducting an investigation and further verification of more or less 10 complaints against barangay captains and purok leaders in our office,” Driz aded.
Interior and Local Governments Secretary Eduardo Año has instructed all police units to prioritize the investigation of alleged corruption in the implementation of the program.
