Alleged cult SBSI gets cut from DSWD benefits for its members
Senators on Tuesday chided high-ranking leaders of the Socorro Bayanihan Service Incorporated after a committee panel inquiry revealed that they slash the cash assistance their members get from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
During the second hearing of the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs on SBSI's alleged human rights violations, Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa asked the DSWD about their distribution of social welfare assistance to beneficiaries at Sitio Kapihan, Socorro, Surigao del Sur.
DSWD Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said the agency has provided several social assistance to 4Ps beneficiaries in the village, who are also members of the SBSI members, including educational grants and health grants in the form of cash as well as P600 worth of monthly rice subsidies.
Dumlao noted that about 202 household members have been receiving such social welfare assistance since 2019.
Following Typhoon "Odette" in 2018, Dumlao said the DSWD also provided typhoon-affected households in the village with a P5,000 emergency cash grant.
Dela Rosa questioned the DSWD about the means of distributing the social welfare benefits.
"Have your local personnel briefed people there that this P5,000 cash assistance only belongs to them? Because according to the information from one of their members' affidavit, SBSI leaders get a cut of P1,000," the senator asked in Filipino.
"It is included in the information that we are sharing with them that whatever they get from the government will be used for the education and health of their children," Dumlao replied.
Dela Rosa clarified that, per the information gathered, the slash in the beneficiaries' cash grants "happened after your [DSWD] distribution."
Someone from the SBSI leadership, accompanied by the Aguila private armed men, collects house-to-house, amounting to P1,000 per beneficiary, added Dela Rosa.
Senator Francis Tolentino questioned how the DSWD chose the qualified beneficiaries from the village.
"Is it right, Asec. Dumlao, that you [DSWD] helped in choosing beneficiaries?" he asked.
DSWD's municipal social welfare development officer for Socorro said the list of beneficiaries should come from the village officials and local government units.
She further said local DSWD personnel cannot enter the village when conducting surveys and data gathering. "Hindi po kasi kami makapasok doon. Nakapasok po kami doon sa pag nagbibigay na ng ayuda."
Asked by Tolentino if he had knowledge about the matter, SBSI president Jey Rence Quilario denied that he had anything to do with the list and the slashing of members' social welfare benefits from DSWD.