IAS to spend extra MOP150 million in new subsidy scheme

Iong Kong Io

The Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) is estimating spending MOP150 million more than usual between July and December, as a new subsidy scheme is due to be implemented addressing non-governmental organizations that provide social services to the community, IAS president Iong Kong Io revealed.
Speaking on the sidelines of a IAS staff spring lunch yesterday, Mr Iong said that IAS has a comprehensive idea of how much money social service institutions will be spending, and that the Bureau’s estimated budget for subsidies granted between July and December will see an increase of MOP150 million.
In January, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, revealed that the government would be implementing a new subsidy-granting scheme in June for non-government organizations that provide social services to the Macau community. The current scheme is being revised in order to help local institutions cope with skyrocketing rents, and to prevent social workers from leaving their posts for higher-paid jobs elsewhere.
The government intends to broaden the subsidy scheme so that it covers a higher number of expenses that local institutions have to cope with, such as rents, electricity bills and staff wages.
According to Mr Iong, the new scheme will address 200 associations. “The [scheme’s] future plan will be based on a reasonableness principle. Subsidies will be granted in accordance to the associations’ needs (…) we also need to define a set of criteria for salaries. After several months of discussion with the associations, we finally reached a consensus. With the new scheme, the government will spend more than MOP150 million,” he stated.
Mr Iong added, “After granting the subsidies, IAS will continue to oversee these institutions’ performance.”
The scheme is being revised, focusing on four main areas: personnel; associations’ general activities; specific activities; and the rendering of regular social services.
IAS also announced recently that it would be increasing the total subsidy amount that is granted to non-governmental institutions by 6.8 percent. IAS said at the time that the Bureau hopes to continue supporting social service initiatives, while improving the benefits granted to social workers, primarily in terms of income.

View on domestic violence ‘remains unchanged’

The Social Welfare Bureau’s view on domestic violence, which will be listed as a public crime, remains unchanged, says IAS president Iong Kong Io. Speaking on the sidelines of a spring lunch organized for IAS staff, the president of the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) recalled that “the domestic violence bill already passed its first reading and is now being discussed in detail [by the 1st Legislative Assembly Standing Committee].” He added that the “IAS position [to list domestic violence as a public crime] stands. This will not change.”
With the new law, domestic violence will be handled as a public crime, which means that legal action against the perpetrator can be put forward even if the victim does not file a complaint. However, the draft already casts doubts over “mild violence cases,” such as a slap, and that they will not be considered domestic violence.
A recent statement from the Public Security Police sparked further controversy, as it said that PSP was against the listing of domestic violence as public crime, Portuguese media reported. However, according to Mr Iong, the PSP head, Leong Man Cheong, had already clarified that the PSP are not against domestic violence being listed as a public crime. Rather, they were just urging authorities to provide a clearer definition of domestic violence in order to facilitate better law enforcement. “At the moment, legal experts are working on the drafted bill to make it clearer, so that police officers know how to act upon domestic violence cases,” Mr Iong said.