DSWD to start SAP 2nd tranche distribution next week

THE Department of Social Welfare and Development-Central Visayas (DSWD 7) targets to start the digital payment for the second tranche of the cash assistance under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) in Cebu next week.

Shalaine Lucero, DSWD 7 assistant regional director, said they are waiting for the confirmation from the central office on which of the 132 local government units (LGUs) in the region will be included in the first batch of the distribution of the second tranche.

Lucero told SunStar Cebu: “The central office has told us that hopefully, we can start next week. Maybe we can comply with that. So far, there are many LGUs that now have 100 percent encoding percentage.”

She said they have identified and submitted 10 names of LGUs that have completed the encoding process of the names of their verified and eligible beneficiaries for the second tranche.

She said the majority of these LGUs are from northern Cebu and Talisay City. Two of these in northern Cebu, she said, are considered as geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas. Thus, they will be accommodated by the agency’s special disbursing officers.

The DSWD said it is now finalizing important details of the distribution process of the second tranche of SAP with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and the participating financial service providers (FSPs.)

The LBP will be the main depository bank and will be responsible for downloading funds to the FSPs.

The DSWD, through the assistance of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), has tapped various FSPs to conduct digital payment of the emergency cash subsidy.

The BSP provided technical assistance to DSWD in identifying the qualified FSPs that will undertake the digital payment.

At present, BSP has identified six FSPs that are compliant with the minimum qualification requirements for the engagement. These are GCash, RCBC, Robinsons Bank, PayMaya, Starpay and Unionbank.

LBP will credit the program fund into the FSPs funding accounts maintained with its Batasan Branch or in other financial institutions based on the instruction and payroll documents provided by DSWD within 24 hours from receipt of payroll documents.

The FSPs, on one hand, will credit the emergency subsidies into the beneficiaries’ restricted nominated accounts within 24 hours upon receipt of the funds from the LBP. The FSPs will send notification to the beneficiaries using their provided contact numbers as soon as the cash aid is available for release to them.

The DSWD reminded the beneficiaries that similar to the regular transaction for digital accounts, there will be a minimal amount of cash out fee of not more than P50 to be deducted from their subsidies, if they opt to withdraw from the partner outlets of the FSPs.

The DSWD initially said only qualified low-income households in Cebu will benefit from the SAP’s second tranche as it’s the only province in the region to remain under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) as of May 1, 2020.

A total of 585,376 non-Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) low-income households in Cebu are initially qualified for the second tranche. This is equivalent to about P3.5 billion.

While a total of 139, 312 4Ps household beneficiaries in Cebu received their P4,650 in emergency cash subsidy on June 11.

The P4,650 serves as a top-up amount to the beneficiaries’ regular cash grant of P1,350, which includes a health grant of P750 and P600 rice subsidy.