BACOLOD CITY - An elderly woman at Barangay Villamonte here, who was excited to get her social amelioration program (SAP) benefit so that she could spend these on her grandchildren, died while waiting for her cash aid on Thursday.
Barangay Chairman Rommel Flores said on Saturday that Aurelia Magbanua, 87, of Purok Sabes went to the gymnasium, along with her daughter past 10 a.m. to get her P6,000 SAP allowance. It was then that she suddenly felt ill while sitting on a chair.
She was transferred to another seat, but she fainted and was rushed to a hospital, where she died a few minutes later while gasping for air, according to Flores.
Flores narrated that Magbanua was advised by her daughter to just claim her SAP benefit in the afternoon, but she insisted on queuing up in the morning, as she was excited to share this with her grandchildren.
Magbanua was among the 4,386 beneficiaries in the village included in the second tranche of the SAP distribution given by the national government for the poorest of the poor affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Although the venue was covered, Flores said that it was still so hot inside the gymnasium because there were so many who had come to claim their SAP benefits.
He also noted that barangay officials were even willing to personally to give beneficiaries their cash assistance in their homes if they would find it difficult to go to the gymnasium.
Last May, the same incident happened at Barangay Tangub, when an elderly man also collapsed and died of cardiac arrest while waiting in line during the SAP distribution.