The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has given the list of Social Amelioration Program (SAP) beneficiaries to the local government units (LGUs) as part of its technical assistance to help ensure the immediate distribution of one-time financial aid to around 22.9 million recipients in areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
DSWD Spokesperson Irene Dumlao expressed the agency’s commitment to extend all-out technical support to the LGUs to ensure that the low-income beneficiaries affected by the imposition of ECQ from March 29 to April 4 will be served.
"On the part of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, ibinahagi po natin yun pong listahan ng mga beneficiaries o mga pamilya o mga household family head na ating nabigyan ng ayuda noong nakaraang taon under the Social Amelioration Program (we have already shared the list of beneficiaries or the families or the household family heads who who were given cash aid last year under the Social Amelioration Program) . Itong listahan ay maaaring maging basehan ng lokal na pamahalaan sa pagtukoy po ng mga indibidwal na makakatangap ng ayuda. (This list may serve as a reference for the local government in identifying the individuals who will be given the aid.),” she said in a radio interview.
On Wednesday morning, March 31, the DSWD said it will provide the list of SAP beneficiaries to the LGUs “today, at the earliest”.
Dumlao said the LGUs may include the low-income individuals living alone and those belonging to the most affected and vulnerable sectors, in the list of beneficiaries for the government’s latest financial aid to low-income beneficiaries affected by the imposition of ECQ from March 29 to April 4.
She even assured the public that the DSWD will closely coordinate with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to ensure the transparent and efficient distribution of the ECQ cash aid.
“Since meron tayong existing grievance machinery, kung tayo ay may matanggap na reklamo, hinaing at suhestiyon, ito ay agad na ipaparating sa DILG which has authority or oversight function sa local na pamahalaan, para mabigyan ng aksyon ang mga reklamo (Since we have existing grievance machinery, if we receive complaint, appeal, and suggestion, it will be immediately reported to the DILG which has authority or oversight function over the local government, so that the complaints will be acted upon),” the DSWD official said.
She reiterated DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista’s call to LGUs to set up their own grievance mechanism for the beneficiaries of the ECQ cash aid.
Bautista vowed Monday night, March 29, to set up a "grievance mechanism" to help ensure the transparent and expeditious distribution of the P23-billion worth of financial aid to around 22.9 million beneficiaries in areas under ECQ.
When asked about the type of assistance that should be given by the LGUs to the beneficiaries, Dumlao said, “Well, we leave it up to the local government units to identify, kung in cash or in kind (If it is cash or in-kind). Ang mahalaga po ay maipahatid ang tulong o assistance sa ating kababayaan in the most efficient way, kung ano po ang pinakamabilis na pamamaraan. (What is important is we deliver the assistance to our countrymen in the most efficient, fastest way.)
In the meeting with the President, Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado said the aid would be “in-kind,” and not in cash, to ensure the food and non-food requirements of the people would be provided.
READ: