The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has distributed over P66.9 billion worth of second tranche of emergency cash subsidies nationwide.
Citing its August 8 Social Amelioration Program (SAP) monitoring data, the DSWD said it has covered around 10,309,854 beneficiaries of SAP 2. The number of served beneficiaries is 73 percent of the 14.1 million targeted beneficiaries for the second tranche.
"The distribution of emergency subsidy continues to beneficiaries of SAP, including “waitlisted” or additional families,” it said in a Facebook post.
In a virtual press briefing last Thursday, August 6, DSWD Undersecretary Rene Glen Paje reminded that not 17 million, but over 14.1 million beneficiaries have been identified to benefit from the second phase implementation of SAP.
The DSWD’s clean list of beneficiaries includes 1.3 million 4Ps beneficiaries in ECQ areas; 7.2 non-4Ps in ECQ areas from May 1 to 15; 3.2 million “waitlisted” beneficiaries who did not receive the first tranche; and the 2.1 million “waitlisted” beneficiaries in ECQ areas from May 1 to 15.
He said the local government units (LGUs) only submitted a list of 3.2 million “waitlisted” beneficiaries out of the 5 million targeted beneficiaries. Of the number, 2.1 million beneficiaries are residents of areas placed under lockdown.
He explained that the number of SAP 2 beneficiaries has been trimmed down to 14.1 million after the agency scrapped from the list the 675, 933 duplicate recipients, and 239, 859 ineligible beneficiaries, and the 58, 725 families who voluntarily returned their cash aid.
The DSWD has assured the public that "the excess funds from the reduced number of beneficiaries for the second tranche of SAP would still be used judiciously in government efforts to address the ongoing pandemic."
It also noted that the beneficiaries identified and paid by the Department of Agriculture (DA) under its Financial Subsidy to Rice Farmers (FSRF) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) under its COVID-19 Adjustment Measure Program (CAMP) Grant or Tulong Panghanapbuhay para sa Displaced/Disadvantaged Worker (TUPAD) will benefit from second tranche of emergency subsidy and receive top up assistance from the DSWD.
“The beneficiaries from the DOLE’s TUPAD and DA’s FSRF are also in the new list of SAP recipients with DSWD providing the top up assistance,” it said.
The 11 areas covered by SAP 2 are Region III (Central Luzon) , except Aurora province, the NCR; Region IV-A (CALABARZON) ; Benguet; Pangasinan; Iloilo; Cebu Province; Bacolod City; Davao City, Albay province and Zamboanga City.
The DSWD is eyeing to complete the digital and manual payouts of the second tranche of SAP 2 subsidies by August 15.