SWS: No social protection for over a third of fuel aid beneficiaries

MANILA, Philippines — More than a third of beneficiaries who received P5,000 in fuel assistance from the government were not enrolled in any government program, including the Social Security System (SSS) and PhilHealth, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey found.

The survey, released by the Office of the Executive Secretary (OES) on Tuesday, was commissioned by the Australian government’s Social Protection, Inclusion and Gender Equality (Spring) Program.

It was conducted by the SWS on May 26 and 27 among 1,200 registered Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) cash-relief beneficiaries under the government’s Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food, and Transport (Uplift) program to address rising living costs, energy emergencies, and economic shocks caused by the Middle East crisis.

Article continues after this advertisement

READ: Gov’t says funds, fuel supplies sufficient amid Middle East conflict

FEATURED STORIES

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

Executive Secretary Ralph Recto said the government would use the survey results to improve the delivery of assistance and identify ways to provide workers with more sustained support.

“This points to an opportunity to use the existing beneficiary database of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as a gateway to connect more vulnerable workers with other government services and social protection programs,” Recto said in a statement.

“We will use the lessons from this survey to improve the delivery of assistance and connect more workers to programs that will provide them with stronger protection in times of need,” he added.

Aside from this finding, the survey also discovered that 96 percent of respondents said the P5,000 fuel allowance under the government’s Uplift program helped them stay on or return to their routes amid soaring fuel prices.

Article continues after this advertisement

Eight in 10 beneficiaries said they used part of the grant to buy food, while 84 percent expressed satisfaction with the personnel who handled the disbursement.

Recto welcomed the findings, saying the independent survey provides concrete feedback on how government assistance is reaching its intended beneficiaries.

Article continues after this advertisement

“Surveys like this are important because they allow us to see whether government assistance is actually reaching people and how it is helping them in their daily lives. This proves that the President’s timely assistance is working and making a big difference,” he added.

Upon President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive, the government has expanded its cash assistance under the Uplift program, targeting 7.5 million poor and low-income households affected by rising oil prices driven by the renewed conflict in the Middle East by providing them up to P12,000 each in cash aid.

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.

Your subscription has been successful.

Aside from transport workers, the expanded program covers beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and the Walang Gutom Program; poor and near-poor families identified through the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) who are outside these two programs; and low-income workers covered by the SSS. /mr