Final episode: Many serious violations
While the beneficiaries of the policy have passed away and their relatives no longer receive any money, the monthly payment documents for the beneficiaries of Cat Van commune still have signatures of receipt and payment as usual!
Although the people of Cat Van commune are very upset about the irregularities in the payment of policies, when meeting us, from the chairman, vice chairman to the commune policy officers still "bragged" about their achievements in implementing the payment of policies to policy beneficiaries, they said that they had done well and fully implemented. To verify the "achievements" in implementing the policies for meritorious people in Cat Van commune, we met Mr. Nguyen Cong Thanh - Head of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Thanh Chuong district, Mr. Thanh said he was busy.
When asked about the policy beneficiary payment records of Cat Van commune, Ms. Thuy - the records manager of the district's Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs "asked permission" to go home to get the records, because the records of Cat Van commune were not kept at the agency but were "at home" (?!). After waiting for a long time, we finally accessed the policy beneficiary payment records of Cat Van commune. There was not much time left, we only had time to check the 2 cases mentioned in the previous article, the mother of martyr Hoang Thi Tam and the war invalid Nguyen Van Toan. In the subsidy payment document of Cat Van commune up to November 2011, there was still someone who signed to receive the regular subsidy of Mr. Nguyen Van Toan with the amount of 590 thousand VND.
Chairman and policy officer of Cat Van commune (right) "shows off achievements" to reporters
In the case of martyr Hoang Thi Tam's mother, in the payment report of Cat Van commune until November 2011, there was still the name Hoang Thi Phuoc (another name of Tam's mother) with the payment amount of 1,565,000 VND! Who did this money belong to? When we asked the family of Mr. Nguyen Van Toan and mother Hoang Thi Tam, their relatives said they did not sign to receive this money!
Randomly checking the list of payment regimes from September to December 2011 in Cat Van commune, we also discovered that many policy subjects were noted by the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Thanh Chuong district as having "temporarily stopped" payment with large amounts of money. So, what is the essence of this "temporary stop"? If the State budget is still being poured in and has been "temporarily stopped" for such a long time, why has the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Thanh Chuong district not urged the commune policy officers to deploy the death registration and funeral payment for these subjects? The question is, the amount of "temporarily stopped payment" in December 2011 alone in Cat Van commune was up to 45,506,000 VND. So, if it is in 40 communes and towns in Thanh Chuong, how big is it, where is it? What is it used for?
Also at the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Thanh Chuong district, we saw a brand new list (although it is now the end of June, the list is dated July 2012) with the title "List of people who have stopped receiving monthly allowances, receiving one-time allowances + funeral expenses" for Cat Van commune alone, up to 37 subjects, in this list there are subjects who died since the beginning of 2011, with the date of death and the date of stopping receiving allowance quite far apart! These are also the subjects whose families and neighbors have asked us about the delay in payment of benefits.
According to our research, in Cat Van, the "commune officials" often take advantage of the delay in completing death registration procedures and lax management to prolong the "living" period of beneficiaries to receive benefits in order to "embezzle". People partly have limited knowledge of the law, partly are afraid of having to "be witnesses" or are afraid of offending each other, so they do not stand up to denounce. Therefore, in less than a week, after the incident in which a colonel compiled a list and sent it to the commune, the "commune officials" tried to "advance" funeral expenses to the families with an unfriendly attitude. Some families received the entire amount, but some families only received a few million. This is just the "tip" of the "iceberg" because this incident has been going on for nearly ten years in this area!
However, Mr. Gian Tu Ngo - Chairman of the People's Committee of Cat Van commune still loudly affirmed: "In the process of implementing the regime for policy beneficiaries and meritorious people, we did not encounter any obstacles or difficulties. All instructions were implemented promptly, although the policy beneficiaries and meritorious people in Cat Van commune are the largest and second largest in Thanh Chuong district. For martyrs' mothers, we always visit, encourage and support them when they are sick, from firewood to torches for example. When they die, the commune government always sends people to pay their respects and if the family follows the correct and complete procedures, we will fully and promptly implement the funeral expenses according to the instructions". Meanwhile, Mr. Tran Huu Vinh, a policy officer of Cat Van commune, said that if there is any delay, it is the fault of the policy families who are late in reporting the death and the cumbersome procedures for implementing this regime.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Ngan - Deputy Head of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Thanh Chuong district said that the department regularly sends official dispatches urging communes to strictly implement the policies. If families complete all procedures (the procedure is quite simple, when the subject dies, the family reports to the commune and the commune prepares a death certificate to submit to the district, then the district submits it to the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs), after 1-2 months they can receive funeral expenses. If relatives of the subjects submit their documents late, we still have to complete and approve the documents for them, not causing difficulties and troubles in the settlement. But when we asked: Do you know of a case where a martyr's mother died more than a year ago but still has not received funeral expenses, Mr. Ngan was surprised and said that he had never heard of such information!
So who has condoned and covered up the irregularities in the payment of benefits in Cat Van commune? Where are the local authorities, organizations and law enforcement agencies that have allowed violations in the payment of benefits to meritorious people to continue for so long?
PV Group
