The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office VII is now at 94% completion in the distribution of its emergency cash grants under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) Bayanihan Fund: Tulong Laban sa COVID-19 to the non-Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) families as of 12:00 noon on Tuesday, May 19, 2020.

Based on the department’s SAP implementation tracker, 125 out of the 132 Local Government Units (LGUs) have completed the ESP distribution of Php 6,000.00 to the 992,595 families with a total amount of Php 5,955,570,000.00.

The remaining 7 LGUs in the Province of Cebu who have yet to complete the distribution of cash aids namely the Cities of Carcar, Toledo, Bogo, Mandaue and Cebu and the Municipalities of Balamban and Pinamungahan are expected to accomplish it on May 20, 2020.

“We have set a final deadline so that in case there is further instruction from the Central Office on the 2nd wave of SAP, LGUs can focus working on it because the required documents are cleared and complied with,” said DSWD-7 Assistant Regional Director for Operations Shalaine Marie S. Lucero.

DSWD-7 understood that there are a lot of factors that resulted in the delay of the distribution of the said subsidy. However, it is already not fair for beneficiaries to wait longer.

“It is the responsibility of the LGUs to provide the most expedient and efficient way in the distribution,” Lucero added.

Meanwhile, DSWD-7 Regional Director Rebecca P. Geamala said that more than 1,000 personnel from the regional office and provincial offices were augmented in the different LGUs in the region to validate the eligibility of SAP beneficiaries and check possible duplication of assistance received.

“This in relation to the Memorandum Circular No. 09, Series of 2020, which mandates DSWD to conduct validation of beneficiaries within fifteen (15) days after receiving the documents that support LGUs’ completion of the distribution of the emergency subsidy. Through this, the office will be able to come up with a clean list of beneficiaries for the second tranche,” Geamala mentioned.

Under Republic Act (RA) No. 11469 or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One” Act, target beneficiaries of the SAP are low-income families or those on subsistence economy or workers in the informal economy including 4Ps household beneficiaries and UCT Listahanan beneficiaries, and with members belonging to the vulnerable sector, assessed to be the most affected by the declaration given their existing life situations or circumstances. ###

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