GRATEFUL. An elderly beneficiary of the government's social amelioration program (SAP) thanks social workers after receiving his PHP6,000 financial aid. He will use the subsidy to buy rice and budget it for his daily expenses. (Photo from DSWD Western Visayas)
MANILA – The government’s social amelioration program (SAP) has now served some 9,771,490 family beneficiaries who were most affected by the public health crisis.
Latest data from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the lead implementer of the program, showed that the families received some PHP69.2 billion worth of financial assistance to supplement their basic needs at the time when livelihoods were lost or put to a halt amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
“Patuloy ang pamamahagi ng emergency subsidy sa mga benepisyaryo ng SAP, kabilang ang mga waitlisted o karagdagang mga pamilya (The payouts for SAP beneficiaries are ongoing including those who are waitlisted or additional families who did not receive aid during the first tranche),” the agency posted on their official social media account on Wednesday.
The agency aims to complete the payouts by mid-August with the help of the financial service providers (FSPs), police, and military.
In an earlier conference, it was announced that from the initial 17 million target beneficiaries, the agency has trimmed it down to only 14.1 million eligible families after their tedious validation process.
DSWD Undersecretary Glen Paje said during Tuesday's conference the agency has to go through several challenges to provide service amid the pandemic including “risking the health of DSWD staff, especially those from the field offices”.
In June 15, the agency halted some of its operations due to their staff’s exposure to the virus.
“Bagamat hindi natin nakamit ay ating itinikdang [80 percent] bilang sa katapusan ng Hulyo ay patuloy na nagsisikap ang DSWD upang maipatupad [matapos] ang payout hanggang sa Agosto a-kinse (Though we did not hit our target to complete [at least 80 percent] by the end of July, we still continue to work so we could provide the payouts by August 15),” he said.
The official said they did not neglect their responsibilities saying the agency is doing its best to keep up with the challenges in delivering assistance.
“Hindi po kami nagpapabaya. Narito po ang ahensya hanggang sa malampasan natin ang kasalukuyang pandemya (We did not disregard our duty. The agency is with you until we all overcome this pandemic),” he said. (PNA)
