By Charissa Luci-Atienza
Over 12.1 million low income families have received emergency subsidies amounting to P65.8 billion under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP), the Department of Welfare and Development (DSWD) said on Monday (May 4).
Based on the agency's latest SAP monitoring report, as of 8 p.m., May 3, the total number of beneficiaries served is 67 percent of 18 million low-income households targeted to receive cash assistance nationwide.
The report noted that P65.6 billion or 65.6 percent of the P100 billion SAP funds allocated for the first wave of cash aid has been given to the 12.1 million beneficiaries.
A total of 8,235, 507 million low-income and non-Pantawid Pamilya (4Ps) families received their SAP subsidies amounting to P48.6 billion, or P60.3 percent of the P80.6 billion downloaded by the DSWD to local government units (LGUs) for the non-4Ps beneficiaries.
Also included in the list of SAP beneficiaries were 3,814,756 4Ps families who received P16.7 billion worth of emergency subsidies; and 40,418 families of transport network vehicle service (TNVS) and public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers who received a P323.3 million subsidy allocation.
Under Republic Act No. 11469 or the "Bayanihan to Heal As One Act, 18 million low-income households are each entitled to receive emergency subsidies ranging from P5,000 to P8,000, depending on the minimum wage level in a region, for two months from April to May.
The DSWD has been counting on the LGUs to expeditiously complete the SAP distribution after they were given a seven-days extension to disburse the subsidies.
As of today, full payouts were recorded in San Remigio, Cebu; Getafe, Bohol; and Leon Postigo, Rizal, Godod, and Vincenzo A. Sagun in Zamboanga del Norte, according to the DSWD's Facebook posts.
As of May 2, 284 LGUs or 17.38 percent of the total 1,634 LGUs in the country have already completed the distribution of SAP in their respective areas, DSWD Spokesperson Irene Dumlao earlier said.
Among the LGUs that recorded 100 percent SAP payouts are San Miguel, Bulacan; Abra de Ilog and Rizal in Occidental Mindoro; Busuanga, Palawan; Baco, Gloria, and Pinamalayan in Oriental Mindoro; Ligao City, Jovellar, and Libon in Albay; Casawayan, Esperanza, Baleno, Uson, and Pio V. Corpuz in Masbate; San Vicente, Camarines Norte; Bagamanoc and Gigmoto in Catanduanes; Casiguran, Barcelona, and Sorsogon City in Sorsogon; and Siruma, Bombon, Ragay, Garchitorena, Ocampo, Tigaon, Presentacion, Goa, San Fernando, Magarao, Pamplona, Pili, Lupi, Sagñay, Iriga City, and Gainza in Camarines Sur.