SEPT 13, 2015

NR # 3956B

House to probe the irregularity in DSWDs shelter assistance program

Rep. Fernando L. Hicap (Party-list, Anakpawis) has called for a congressional
inquiry into the alleged irregularity in the implementation of the Emergency Shelter
Assistance (ESA) program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD).
In House Resolution 2322, Hicap said there are unreasonable restrictive guidelines,
cases of political abuse, and anomaly in the implementation of the shelter program in the
calamity areas in the country.
Nearly two months before the second anniversary of the deadliest typhoon that hit
the country, victims of supertyphoon Yolanda still struggle with anguish, Hicap said.
Hicap chided the delays in the granting of shelter assistance funds brought about by
the DSWDs restrictive guidelines, the agencys glaring display of incompetence and
negligence, and reported cases of abuse and irregularity, flagrantly defeat the emergency
and humanitarian nature of the ESA program.
Hicap asked the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability,
chaired by Rep. Oscar Rodriguez (3rd Dist., Pampanga), to invite the officials of the
DSWD and the non-governmental organizations in the calamity areas to shed light on the
matter.
Hicap said the ESA Program grants P30,000 to Yolanda victims whose houses were
completely destroyed, and P10,000 to those with partially damaged houses.
Hicap said poor typhoon victims are being doubly distressed as they are being
disqualified from availing of the ESA because of the inordinately stringent conditions set
by the DSWDs Memorandum Circular 24.
Under the memo, those eligible to get the ESA are the families who are already
renting and had availed of the DSWD Disaster Family Access Card (DAFC); contractual
government employees with no housing loans from government and private groups;
regular workers from the public and private sectors earning lower than P15,000 a month.
Hicap said many calamity victims in the islands of Samar, Leyte, and Panay have
been deprived of the ESA on the mere account of their residence location, receipt of aid
however little from local officials, and the discriminatory salary cap provision as if those
earning a little over P15,000 are no longer in dire need of assistance.
Hicap said he received reports that some loan sharks and financiers, in cahoots with

unscrupulous local DSWD officials, are preying on calamity victims.

Hicap cited the modus operandi called kase-kase, wherein usurers would lend
ESA applicants cash amounts equivalent to what the DSWD is supposed to grant each
beneficiary, but with added 16-percent interest.
The DSWD would then in turn release the shelter assistance not to the grantee but
directly to the loan shark or financier, Hicap said.
Hicap said the ESA anomaly has further aggravated the vulnerability of calamity
victims considering that after November 2013, Seniang, Ruby and other typhoons
successively hit the same areas where Yolanda had previously struck. (30) mrs