The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has distributed P 1.5-billion in emergency cash subsidies to more than 216,000 public transport drivers nationwide under the national government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP).
The DSWD said as of Sept. 6, around 216, 556 drivers of public utility vehicles (PUVs) and the Transport Network Vehicle Service (TNVS) have benefited from the second tranche distribution of SAP.
Of the total number, 169,939 are TNVS/PUV drivers nationwide, receiving over P1.21 billion worth of cash aid, while 46,617 are public transport drivers from the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) areas who got P289.42 million SAP allocation.
The 216, 556 public transport drivers are part of the DSWD’s latest list of 13,709, 873 SAP 2 recipients.
In its report, the DSWD said a total of P82,131, 324, 100 in SAP 2 cash assistance has been distributed through manual and digital payouts to over 13.7 million SAP beneficiaries.
The breakdown of the SAP beneficiaries are 1,387,004 beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), 5,951,478 low-income and non-4Ps recipients; 327,624 “waitlisted,” low-income and non-4Ps households nationwide; 1,806,241 waitlisted beneficiaries from ECQ areas; 169,939 TNVS/PUV drivers drivers nationwide; and 46,617 drivers from ECQ areas.
The DSWD said the distribution of emergency subsidies to remaining unserved beneficiaries will continue. For the second tranche, the Department is targeting to cover 14.1 million beneficiaries.
The 11 areas covered by SAP 2 are Region 3 (Central Luzon), except Aurora; the NCR; Region 4-A (CALABARZON); Benguet; Pangasinan; Iloilo; Cebu; Bacolod City; Davao City, Albay, and Zamboanga City.
The DSWD vowed to complete the SAP distribution within this month.