The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has guaranteed on Friday that it will continue the provision of social protection programs to affected families under Bayanihan 2.
Republic Act No. 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2) provides the government's assistance in the economic recovery of Filipinos in light of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
For its part, the DSWD is implementing the Bayanihan 2 Emergency Subsidy Program (ESP) for low-income, non-formal sector family beneficiaries affected by the implementation of community quarantine measures.
As of December 17, the department reported that there are already 142,058 beneficiaries who received their emergency subsidy under Bayanihan 2. From that number, 11,480 are from granular lockdown areas, while 130,578 are additional beneficiaries. The total subsidy distributed to the qualified beneficiaries reached more than P931 million.
The emergency subsidy under Bayanihan 2 is a one-time cash grant amounting to P5,000 to P8,000. This is being distributed to low-income family beneficiaries who are residing in areas placed under granular lockdown from the date of effectivity of the Bayanihan 2 on September 14, 2020, which is certified by the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force.
This also includes families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were deported or who arrived in the country from September 14 to December 19, 2020, provided that they are undocumented or displaced from their jobs abroad.
Lastly, low-income family beneficiaries who may not be under granular lockdown but were not included in the list submitted to DSWD during the implementation of Social Amelioration Program of Bayanihan 1 are also covered by Bayanihan 2.
Aside from these programs, the DSWD also has various interventions to aid in the recovery of poor families and households through the conduct of its regular programs such as the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation, Supplementary Feeding Program, Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens Program, and the provision of food and non-food items to requesting local government units.