MANILA – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Tuesday said local government units (LGUs) that have not submitted their list of low-income families to be validated as social amelioration program (SAP) beneficiaries have until Wednesday to comply.
DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista, in a virtual presser, said the agency returned more than 200,000 social amelioration card (SAC) forms to LGUs nationwide due to incomplete information.
“The cards did not have either the beneficiaries’ mobile number, middle name, or birthday. Apart from that, there are still more than 300,000 names of beneficiaries that the LGUs need to submit to the DSWD Central Office to be validated,” he said.
Validation is performed to check the eligibility of the beneficiaries and to see if there were duplication in the provision of aid from DSWD and other agencies that are required to implement separate assistance under SAP.
DSWD said it is aware of the needs of low-income Filipino families whose members still cannot work due to the community quarantine and that its goal is to immediately deliver the SAP aid.
They, however, said it is necessary to complete the validation process before releasing the aid.
Bautista also apologized to the public as the agency did not meet its targeted date of August 15 to complete the distribution of cash aid to 14.1 million family beneficiaries of the second tranche of SAP.
He said there was difficulty reaching geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas and restriction on mobility after a significant number of their personnel have tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) while others were forced to self-quarantine.
The recent move of President Rodrigo Duterte to revert certain areas to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) also took a toll on the distribution process.
“Gayunpaman, lahat ng pamamaraan at koordinasyon ay isinasagawa ng ahensya upang matapos ang pamimigay ng SAP (However, the agency is exhausting all ways and coordination to continue and finish the distribution of SAP),” the Secretary said.
Meanwhile, as of August 18, DSWD has already rolled out some PHP77 billion of its fund to almost 13 million family beneficiaries of SAP through manual and digital payouts.
They have so far completed 91 percent of their distribution.
The family beneficiaries include more than 1.3 million members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4P’s); 5.6 million low-income and non-4P’s; 3.1 million waitlisted, low-income, and non 4P’s; some 1.5 million waitlisted families in enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) areas; and 124,558 transport network vehicle service and public utility vehicle drivers nationwide.
The “Bayanihan to Heal As One” Act has given the national government powers to provide emergency subsidies to low-income families.
Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1 of 2020 stated that the subsidy shall amount to a minimum of PHP5,000 to a maximum of PHP8,000 a month for two months to provide for basic food, medicine and toiletries. -PNA
