By Marie Tonette Marticio TACLOBAN CITY – More than 260,000 low income and vulnerable families have received the P5,000-financial aid allocated under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Eastern Visayas. Joshua Kempis DSWD-8 SAP focal person said that, as of Friday, May 1, a total of 260,111 families have received the financial subsidy amounting to more than P1.3 billion. "As of Friday morning, 139 out of 143 local government units (LGUs) have already conducted payouts in their localities," he said. The official maintained that all the funds have already been downloaded to the LGUs, which they are expected to distribute within three days. The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has earlier set the deadline for distribution of the cash aid among LGUs on April 30. But this has been reportedly extended for another week. Beneficiaries, who received the cash aid, expressed gratitude to DSWD for the assistance. "Life is so difficult. I am living with two PWDs that is why we are very much grateful to our LGU and DSWD for the assistance," Lola Erlinda, one of the beneficiaries from Mayorga, Leyte tearfully shared. Jimmy, also from Mayorga, shared that his work as a farm laborer was affected because of the quarantine. I am thenkful because I received P5,000 that we could use to buy our food," he said. The emergency subsidy is financial assistance provided to families who are most affected by the community quarantine. These include low-income families and members of the vulnerable sector, including persons with disabilities, senior citizens, solo parents, among others.