Bulacan governor vows probe into village councilor who allegedly took cash from gov't aid

MANILA - The governor of Bulacan said Tuesday he would order an investigation into a village councilor allegedly taking funds from cash aid meant for poor families amid the coronavirus crisis, as President Rodrigo Duterte had bared in his latest public address.

Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando said he plans to write to the Sangguniang Bayan of Hagonoy town to investigate the matter.

"Susulat ako na imbestigahan 'yung kagawad at sangguniang barangay kasi hindi maganda ang nangyari," Fernando told radio DZMM. 

(I will write to them to investigate the kagawad and the sangguninag barangay because what happened is not good.) 

During a Palace briefing late Monday night, Duterte cited a report on a village kagawad, a certain Danilo Flores of Barangay San Agustin, Hagonoy, Bulacan, who he said was corrupt.

He offered a P30,000 bounty for anyone who could give information on local officials stealing aid meant for families struggling through the coronavirus pandemic. 

Fernando said prior to the incident, he appealed to the Department of Social Welfare and Development to supervise the distribution of cash aid, adding later on that some of his local officials "did not follow protocol" in distributing the cash subsidies. 

"Itinawag ko na 'yan sa DSWD tungkol sa pamimigay na 'yan, sabi ko 'puwede bang i-supervise' una pa lang," he said. 

(From the start, I had asked DSWD if they could supervise the distribution of cash aid.) 

The national government had allocated cash aid of P5,000 to P8,000 for two months for 18 million poor families across the country amid the pandemic. 

On Saturday, government announced that 5 million more were added to the list. 

• 5 million more Filipinos to receive first tranche of COVID-19 cash aid – Palace

Some 396,173 families were expected to receive the cash aid in Bulacan, around 15,190 of them in Hagonoy town.

Bulacan is one of the provinces currently under the extended enhanced community quarantine.