COVID 19: SAP NCR distribution rate – Caloocan 77.45 %, Pasig 76.06%, Valenzuela 66.70%, Marikina 55.51%, Mandaluyong 55.01%, Manila 51.09% and QUEZON CITY at 15.08% (FIFTEEN PERCENT)

May 5, 2020 By Pinoy 2022

Metro Manila LGUs among slowest to give cash aid – DSWD

MANILA, Philippines — Several local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila are among the slowest to release the national government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP) funds, according to an official of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Vicente Gregorio Tomas, DSWD-National Capital Region Field Office director, told The STAR yesterday that the DSWD-NCR fully downloaded a total of P12,468,920,000 in SAP funds by April 13. They started the download on April 3.

As of 6 p.m. on May 4, Tomas said only 603,222 families or 38.7 percent of the target SAP beneficiaries in Metro Manila received P4,825,776,000 in SAP funds.

According to figures from the DSWD-NCR, Muntinlupa distributed 10.4 percent of SAP funds as of 6 p.m. on May 4, followed by San Juan at 10.8 percent and Pasay at 11.05 percent.

The LGU with the highest distribution rate is Caloocan at 77.45 percent of SAP funds; followed by Pasig at 76.06 percent; Valenzuela, 66.70 percent; Marikina, 55.51 percent; Mandaluyong, 55.01 percent; and Manila, 51.09 percent.

Tomas noted that some LGUs in far-flung provinces have distributed 100 percent of their SAP funds as early as last week.

The DSWD has yet to issue figures on the release of SAP funds by Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Navotas, Parañaque, Pateros and Taguig.

The Quezon City government said yesterday over 57,000 families have received SAP funds as of Sunday.

The number is expected to be higher as thousands also received subsidies during the ongoing simultaneous payouts in different barangays.

The national government has allocated 377,854 slots to the city for the cash subsidy.

Over 154,000 social amelioration cards have already been submitted as of Sunday, according to the city government.

Mayor Joy Belmonte earlier approved a supplemental budget to provide P4,000 assistance to qualified beneficiaries excluded from the national government program.

Belmonte said there are at least 723,822 families qualified to receive aid in the city.

The Pasig City government yesterday said the distribution of the DSWD’s SAP in the city is almost done and it has begun distributing P8,000 cash assistance under its local SAP for around 160,000 households left out of the national government’s financial aid distribution.

Mayor Vico Sotto added that government employees and other individuals given cash assistance by other aid programs of the national government will be excluded from the list of beneficiaries.

In Valenzuela, more than 230,000 families are expected to receive the third wave of food vouchers starting today.

“We will make sure that in six to seven days, we will finish the food voucher distribution. We will make sure that if not all, almost all… families will receive their food voucher within a week,” Mayor Rex Gatchalian said.

The city government distributed 105,000 food vouchers during the first wave and another 230,000 during the second. – Janvic Mateo, Neil Jayson Servallos, Rey Galupo

ABS CBN to close operations TONIGHT after NTC cease and desist order, ABS CBN option to seek relief (TRO) in court

May 5, 2020 By Pinoy 2022

NTC orders ABS-CBN to stop broadcast operations

By: Neil Arwin Mercad (INQUIRER.net)

May 05, 2020

MANILA, Philippines — The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on Tuesday issued a Cease and Desist Order against ABS-CBN after its legislative franchise expired on May 4.

In an Order dated May 5, the NTC directed ABS-CBN to stop operating its television and radio broadcasting stations nationwide “absent a valid Congressional Franchise required by law.”

NTC cited Republic Act No. 3846 or the Radio Control Law which states that “no person, firm, company, association, or corporation shall construct, install, establish, or operate a radio transmitting station, or radio receiving station used for commercial purposes, or a radio broadcasting station, without having first obtained a franchise therefor from the Congress of the Philippines.”

Thus, with the expiration of the Republic Act. No 7966, which granted ABS-CBN a 25-year franchise to operate its TV and radio broadcasting stations, NTC said that ABS-CBN “no longer has a valid and subsisting congressional franchise as required by Act No. 3846.

“The NTC Regional Offices shall implement the closure order in their respective areas of jurisdiction,” NTC said in a statement.

The order likewise gives ABS-CBN en days from the receipt of the Order to respond as to why the frequencies assigned to the network should not be recalled.

“After receipt of ABS-CBN’s response, the NTC shall schedule the case for hearing at the earls time after he Enhanced Community Quarantine is lifted by the Government,” NTC said.

What happened?

The 11 bills seeking the renewal of franchise of ABS-CBN remain pending before the House committee on legislative franchises, the earliest of which, at least in the 18th Congress, was filed in July 2019.

While the bills were pending in the lower chamber, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on numerous occasions assured that ABS-CBN will not shut down its operations even if its franchises lapses.

On May 4, the same day Congress resumed its sessions from their Lenten break, ABS-CBN’s franchise expired.

In assuring that ABS-CBN will continue its operations while Congress tackles the bills seeking its renewal, House leaders banked on the NTC granting the network a provisional authority to operate.

Thus in February, Cayetano and Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez, the franchise committee chair, earlier sent a letter to the NTC enjoining the commission to grant a provisional authority to operate to ABS-CBN effective on May 4, 2020, “until such time that the House of Representatives/Congress has made a decision on its application.”

On March 10, NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba told members of the House that they will follow the advice of the Department of Justice (DOJ), allowing ABS-CBN to operate while its franchise renewal bid is pending in Congress.

Solicitor General’s opposition

On May 3, Solicitor General Jose Calida, who earlier filed a quo warranto petition against ABS-CBN in a move to have the network’s franchise revoked, warned the NTC against granting provisional authority to ABS-CBN.

According to Calida, NTC could not grant provisional authorities to ABS-CBN Corporation and its affiliate, ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc. because it must first secure a franchise from Congress.

Calida said the NTC commissioners could risk subjecting themselves to prosecution under the country’s anti-graft and corruption laws should they issue the “unlawful” provisional authorities to ABS-CBN while not having a franchise.

In response to Calida’s efforts to “pressure” the NTC, Alvarez said that the “Committee on Legislative Franchises will not be dictated upon by any individual or agency as to the manner, schedule, and conduct of its official business.”

Alvarez also posted a warning to NTC: “If the NTC chooses to succumb to the pressure of the Solicitor General, and disregard the commitments they gave under oath, we reserve the right to call them before Congress and explain why they should not be held in contempt.”

Ironically, Alvarez released the statement merely hours before news broke out regarding the cease and desist order against ABS-CBN.

So far, the committee on legislative franchises has only held one hearing—or meeting—to discuss the matter. But during this meeting, no one from ABS-CBN or from the opposition was invited.

Instead, the lawmakers decided to first draft the ground rules for the formal deliberations of the franchise renewal bid of ABS-CBN, which Cayetano earlier deemed to be necessary so that the hearings would not be a “circus.”

COVID 19 – Duterte offers 30k to informers on CORRUPT govt. officials who STEAL S.A.P. money, names Barangay Agustin, Hagonoy, Bulacan Kagawad Danilo Flores (caught red handed on video)

May 5, 2020 By Pinoy 2022

P30k reward for Reporting Corruption Activities

Rene (CBN News)

May 5, 20200

President Duterte has promised to give a reward to anyone who reports on government officials who are stealing from government or SAP assistance.

At the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced that President Duterte offered P30,000 to anyone who would help the national government catch the corrupt officials.