The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) conducted on Saturday, Sept. 3 offsite payout of cash aid to students-in-crisis in Southern Luzon who could not register online for the agency’s educational assistance program.
This is the first time the DSWD conducted an offsite payout since the start of educational assistance distribution last Aug. 20.
“Some region to employ offsite payout for those without access to internet and gadgets, namely MIMAROPA (Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) and CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon),” DSWD spokesperson Assistant Secretary Romel Lopez said on the third Saturday of educational aid distribution.
Based on the DSWD’s initial data, the offsite payout sites were located in San Jose, Romblon (400 target beneficiaries); Araceli, Palawan (700 target beneficiaries); Dumaran, Palawan (554 target beneficiaries); Tanay, Rizal (less than 200 target beneficiaries); Barangay Cuyamba (100 percent Dumagat tribe beneficiaries); Barangay San Andres (100 percent Dumagat tribe beneficiaries); and Barangay Daraitan (no specific number of beneficiaries).
Lopez said there are 316 payout centers nationwide, with Central Visayas (Region 7) having the most payout sites at 113.
The National Capital Region (NCR) has three payout sites—SWADCAP Taguig City; NCR Field Office in Gastambide, Manila; and Nayon ng Kabataan in Mandaluyong City.
DSWD aims to distribute cash assistance to some 80,000 students-in-crisis across the country on Sept. 3 alone.
“Sa DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government, PNP (Philippine National Police), mga mayors at gobernador, sa DSWD personnel, at syempre sa mga kliyente po namin na matiyagang nag-online at nagpalista, maraming salamat po sa maayos na ikatlong Sabado na educational assistance sa 316 DSWD payout centers sa iba’t-ibang bahagi ng bansa. Thank you Lord God (To the DILG, PNP, mayors and governors, to the DSWD personnel, and of course to our clients who patiently went online and registered, thank you very much for the smooth third Saturday educational assistance at the 316 DSWD payout centers in various parts of the country. Thank you Lord God,” DSWD Secretary Erwin Tulfo said on his social media page.
“May konti pa rin kaming adjustments na gagawin sa mga darating pang Sabado para sa mas maayos at maginhawa na assistance distribution. Salamat po sa pag-unawa. Sa mga hindi po napasama pa today, may tatlong Saturdays pa po kami na payout. Ngayong Sabado, may 2 million applicants po kaming natanggap for educational assistance (We still have a few adjustments to make in the coming Saturdays for a more orderly and convenient assistance distribution. Thank you for understanding. For those who haven’t joined today, we still have three more Saturdays to pay out. This Saturday, we received 2 million applicants for educational assistance),” he added.
The educational assistance under the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations or AICS program is intended to provide cash assistance to students-in-crisis.
Each beneficiary will receive P1,000 for those in elementary, P2,000 for those in high school, P3,000 for those in senior high school, and P4,000 for those in college/vocational school.
The DSWD will conduct payouts every Saturday until Sept. 24.
“Same guidelines . Only those with text confirmation after their online registration will be processed. No walk-in applicants,” Lopez pointed out.
He added some DSWD field offices are now processing educational assistance during weekdays to hasten the distribution of cash assistance.
Meanwhile, Lopez said that Batanes has canceled its scheduled educational assistance distribution due to typhoon Henry.