The Department of Social Welfare and Development has removed the validation stage of the local government units as prerequisite before they could distribute the cash assistance to the low income families, the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases said on Friday.

In a virtual press briefing, IATF Spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said this was made in order to fast-track the release of the P5,000 to P8,000 cash assistance.

"To speed up the release of P5,000 to P8,000 assistance under the Social Amelioration Program to the needy families, the DSWD said they have removed the prerequisite of validation stage," he said.

But Nograles clarified that under the amended measure, the validation of beneficiaries will be conducted after the payout of the subsidies.

"It (validation stage) was not removed, it was just placed at the end. So validation will still be there. But instead of it being a prerequisite, it is now post, post (requirement) so that we can fast-track the distribution," he said.

The agreement was reached between the DSWD and the LGUs.

After post validation, in case those who received the cash aid were not qualified, Nograles said a refund should be made.

"It's in the MOA (memorandum of agreement) and in the guidelines," he said.

Nograles said the latest data on SAP showed that a total amount of P71,215,745,250 has already been given to 1,648 LGUs, which is almost 90 percent accomplishment already.

The government has earmarked P200 billion for SAP to be distributed to some 18,000 poorest families in the country in two tranches. The beneficiaries include those in the DSWD's conditional cash transfer program and indigent senior citizens, and those being submitted by the LGUs. Celerina Monte/DMS