DSWD pushes to include 30T Boholano families for SAP aid

NOW IN THE HANDS OF DSWD. As Bohol SWAD has submitted the list of beneficiaries who were left out in the government’s Social Amelioration Program, these over 30,000 families in the list in Bohol would compete for the 1.5 million slots opened for beneficiaries in regions which were formerly under ECQ, explained DSWD. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

CORTES, Bohol, June 14 (PIA) -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development Bohol Social Welfare and Development (SWAD) Office has submitted a list of over 30,000 eligible families who were left out in the Emergency Subsidy Program under the Social Amelioration Program as mandeted by the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act.

This is according to SWAD Bohol team leader Rhea Marie Tubongbanua during the recent Kapihan sa PIA Thursday.

At the radio program aired live over DyTR, Tubongbanua who came with DSWD Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Provincial Link Luz Figarido, reported that a total of 30,673 family beneficiaries comprise the list which is a compilation of what the municipal validating teams have found to be eligible for the SAP but were left out during the identification and distribution of the Emergency Cash Subsidy Program.  

Tubingbanua, however, clarified that with their submission, it is now up to the national DSWD to decide whether all families in the list or only some would benefit from the government’s cash assistance.

If approved, the family beneficiaries would receive the same amount which the beneficiaries of the SAP received from the first tranche as a relief when the government measures against coronavirus disease has forced people to stay at home and keep off from work.

In his “Talk to the People,” Pres. Rodrigo Duterte announced the addition of five million families from the initial 18 million family-beneficiaries contained in Enhanced Community Quarantine areas as helped by the first SAP.

The five million families would come from the poor and low-income families in areas where ECQ is declared.

About two months from the president's declaration of the State of Public Health Emergency and the succeeding local declarations of Enhanced Community Quarantine, several regions have since downgraded their levels of community quarantine. 

As the ECQ has more stringent measures in the movement of people including area-wide curfews and mass gathering bans, this has severely affected people's  source of income, thus the government stepped in for the emergency cash subsidy in the SAP.

Since several regions have been certified by the Inter Agency Task Force on the Management of Infectious Diseases as low-risk areas, the ECQ categorization have since been downgraded to General Community Quarantine (GCQ) in preparation to Modified GCQ before a place can transition to the new normal.

On this, according to the memorandum from the Executive Secretary, only 3.5 million additional beneficiaries who are still under ECQ will be given two waves of emergency subsidy.

In the case of Bohol where GCQ is now hoisted, the 30,673 waitlisted families can vie for the remaining 1.5 million slots, which allows them one wave of P6,000 emergency cash aid. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

source https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1044726