By Mike Crismundo
BUTUAN CITY – With Northeastern Mindanao or Caraga region under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD Caraga Region 13) has released the government’s emergency cash assistance to 179,000 beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps under the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer (MCCT) and the Regular CCT.
CASH ASSISTANCE. Gina Fe Salvoro, 42, of Carmen, Surigao del Sur, is among the more than 179,000 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD Caraga Region 13) who received her cash assistance on Thursday (April 9). She thanked the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte for the assistance her family received amid the fight to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the region. (Photo from DSWD-13 / Facebook / via Mike Crismundo / MANILA BULLETIN)
The DSWD 13 Field Office Caraga said the cash assistance was part of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) of the Duterte Administration.
The SAP aimed to support the most affected families of the ECQ to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Each beneficiary received P3,650, which was part of the P5,000 total aid, it said.
The DSWD’s cash assistance is among the number of programs of the different agencies of the government, including the departments of labor, agriculture, and trade.
The DSWD’s focus is the informal sector, which include the poorest of the poor families in the country, including those of the vulnerable sectors.
DSWD 13 Regional Director Mita Chuchi Gupana-Lim said as stipulated in Republic Act 11469, or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, the subsidy shall amount to P5,000 a month.
The region’s top DSWD 13 official said the subsidy will run for two months to provide basic food, medicines, and hygienic necessities to the 4Ps beneficiaries.
“For 4Ps beneficiaries who do not have a cash card yet, we shall facilitate the immediate distribution of their assistance and we will find the most favorable way of doing so,” said Lim, in a statement.