May singil sa ayuda: DSWD urged to disclose details of deals with e-wallet firms for SAP

By Billy Begas

Gabriela Women’s Party on Sunday urged the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to make public its transactions with financial service providers tapped for cash aid distribution.

Assistant Minority Leader and Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas said the DSWD should reveal to the public the transactions it made with financial technology companies “not just because of alleged missing funds, but because of the charging of transaction fees for each ayuda beneficiary.”

Brosas said that based on initial reports a P50 transaction fee was taken from ayuda beneficiaries. Later the DSWD said that it reimbursed the amount to financial service providers.

“Kung nireimburse ng DSWD ang financial service providers sa kinaltas nilang transaction fees worth P50 pero hindi na-reimburse ang mga tumanggap ng ayuda, malaking iregularidad ito. Ano ba ang nakasaad sa MOA nila?” Brosas asked.

During the budget deliberations last year, the lawmaker asked for the agreements between DSWD and fintech firms. The DSWD claimed that they have submitted the documents but Gabriela has not received the requested MOAs.

“An investigation done by the House regarding the cash aid payouts and transaction fees must be in order, as these issues were swept under the rug during the budget deliberations last year,” Brosas added.

Brosas said that it seems that double payments were made to fintech firms.

“Kailangan alamin kung ilang Pilipino ang gumamit ng fintech services para sa ayuda, ilan ang kinaltasan ng P50 transaction fees, at kung magkano ang contract payments ng DSWD sa FSPs. Kasi lumalabas, posibleng double payments ito sa Starpay at iba pa,” she said.

Last year, the government tapped fintech companies to facilitate the payouts of the cash aid to millions of low income families.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)