DSWD Chief Says List of Riders and Drivers for Aid Was Allegedly Manipulated
DSWD chief Rex Gatchalian revealed that the list of riders and drivers for financial assistance was allegedly manipulated.
Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rex Gatchalian revealed alleged irregularities involving the list of riders and drivers who were supposed to receive government financial assistance.
During the continuation of the hearing conducted by the PROTECT Committee on Wednesday, Gatchalian explained that the discovered problems became one of the reasons why the agency has not fully relied on digital platforms in distributing aid to beneficiaries from the transport sector.
According to the DSWD chief, authorities found several issues in the lists submitted by transport network companies or TNCs. Instead of receiving a clean and organized list of beneficiaries, the agency allegedly discovered duplicate entries, repeated names, and incorrect information.
Gatchalian explained that some individuals allegedly appeared multiple times in the records. In some cases, the same person was reportedly listed twice using slightly different names, such as one entry with “Jr.” included and another without it.
Authorities said these irregularities were commonly seen among app-based transport workers, including ride-hailing drivers, motorcycle taxi riders, and delivery service workers.
The agency became concerned about the possibility of abuse if financial aid was distributed directly through digital wallets. Officials feared that individuals could allegedly create multiple e-wallet accounts using different identification details to receive assistance more than once.
The DSWD secretary also shared that the agency originally planned to distribute aid to around 85 percent of the intended beneficiaries. However, because of the changing and inconsistent records, the process became more difficult to manage properly.
“Meron ho kami nakukuha, this is very salient in the bigger community of ride-hailing apps. Meron ho kami nakukuha because multi-apps sila, meron hong isang tao that will submitted two times, one with the Jr., the other one without a Jr. This is quite prevalent,” Gatchalian said.
Many people agreed that proper verification is necessary to make sure that aid reaches qualified recipients fairly and efficiently.
Authorities are now expected to continue reviewing and validating the submitted records to avoid possible fraud and ensure that public funds are distributed to the rightful beneficiaries.
