Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco announced on Sunday, Feb. 27, that they will distribute the remaining P3,000 to families who only received their P5,000 cash aid from the Department of Social Welfare and Development – National Capital Region (DSWD-NCR) in October 2021.
This is part of the P8,000 aid of the Bayanihan 1 Social Amelioration Program(SAP) second tranche for the reimposition of Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) last year.
“We learned that these beneficiaries will only get P5,000, not P8,000 as originally intended for the SAP second tranche," Tiangco said, pertaining to the letter of DSWD-NCR which was also discussed during an online meeting with representatives of said agency.
"Hindi nila kasalanan na nagkaproblema ang pagbigay ng DSWD ng second tranche. Late na ngang matanggap, bawas pa(It is not their fault that DSWD had a problem providing the second tranche. It's too late to receive, even less)," Tiangco added.
In October last year, 2,939 Navoteño SAP second tranche beneficiaries received P5,000 under the AICS program of DSWD. The department had to source the fund from another program as the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act expired in 2020.
"Our people have been waiting for almost two years now for the financial assistance. It is not their fault that the SAP distribution of the DSWD failed. They should not be the ones bearing the brunt of someone else's blunder,” he said.
DSWD said unpaid qualified beneficiaries of SAP second tranche and those who have received their initial payout in October 2021 are only allowed to avail of a maximum of P5,000 subsidy under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program.
In December 2020, Tiangco had written to DSWD-NCR Director Vicente Gregorio Tomas regarding the excluded names of beneficiaries in the SAP second tranche payroll. He had sent a total of 60 letters bearing 5,231 names of Navoteños.