Following reports of families receiving more than one type of subsidy from the Social Amelioration Program (SAP), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) explained its guidelines for the refund process for cash aid.

Beneficiaries may refund their SAP through the cashier’s office of the agency that made the payment, which includes the barangay treasurer or municipal/city treasurer. In the case of DSWD offices, the DSWD Field Office’s (FO) cashier or collecting officer may process the refund.

The collecting office must issue an official receipt (OR) to the beneficiary making the refund, which includes the name of the payer and the amount of money being refunded.

If the refund is being made at the barangay level, remittance of the collected refund must be immediately processed to their respective municipal/city treasurer within 15 days or based on its standard protocols.

All collections from the refunds made by SAP beneficiaries must also be reflected in the liquidation reports of local government units (LGUs) which will be submitted to DSWD within the agreed timeline.

Those who are required to refund their SAP include the following:

• Elected and appointed government officials or personnel contracted in any National Government Agency (NGA), Government-owned and Controlled Corporation (GOCC), LGUs and GOCCs with original charter;
• Employees in the private sector, or those in the formal economy;
• Retired individuals who are receiving pension;
• Families with independent financial capacity consistent with the intent of Republic Act (RA) No. 11469 or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act”; and
• Beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) who already received their SAP through their cash cards and yet have also received SAP distributed by the LGUs or other NGAs such as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) or the Social Security System (SSS).

Meanwhile, excess grants received by 4Ps beneficiaries shall be automatically deducted from their subsequent cash grants until the amount is fully adjusted or refunded.

As of June 5, the Department has reported that some 3,723 beneficiaries have returned more than P20.3 million to DSWD due to duplication of assistance received from other government agencies or ineligibility.

The beneficiaries who returned their cash assistance include 795 from Region III, 166 from CALABARZON, 10 from MIMAROPA, 54 from Region VIII, 210 from Region IX, 2,047 from Region XI, 197 from CARAGA, 236 from the National Capital Region (NCR), and eight beneficiaries who directly returned their subsidy to the DSWD Central Office.

About 179 LGUs also refunded more than P324.4 million emergency cash assistance to DSWD. The LGUs came from Regions CAR, I, II, III, CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, V, VI, VIII, IX, X, XII, CARAGA, and BARMM.

The Department will use the refunded amount for the second tranche of SAP  implementation.

DSWD also lauded SAP beneficiaries who refunded their assistance for their honesty and adherence to the law. ###