Cash aid for students now ready

The Department of Social Welfare and Development will grant up to P4,000 to all indigent Filipino students every Saturday until 24 September 2022, DSWD Secretary Erwin Tulfo announced on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in the Malacañang Palace, Tulfo said the DSWD will distribute P1,000 for elementary students, P2,000 for high school students, P3,000 for senior high school students, and P4,000 for college students or those taking vocational courses.

“Now, if you ask me, who are qualified: All children belonging to poor families, not only children of solo parents. Almost everyone is qualified,” he said.

Tulfo said the program, which is expected to benefit around 24,000 students, seeks to help poor students buy the things they need as they return to face-to-face classes next week.

The DSWD noted that even beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program are qualified to avail of the program.

Tulfo said he wanted to limit the requirements for the program to as simple as possible, thus students who wish to receive cash aid only need to bring proof of their enrollment and school identification card.

Senior high school students and college students can line up to avail themselves of the assistance at DepEd offices while parents of elementary and high school students can get the aid without bringing their children.

“It would be better if you send us an e-mail first. Don’t worry, there is a budget allocated for this. It will not run out because we saved around P500 million in funds,” Tulfo said.

Only three beneficiaries per family are allowed to avail of the financial aid.

“All hands on deck. If they line up on that day, there should be no excuse why they cannot receive (the cash assistance),” Tulfo said.

“The cash assistance should be given the same day that the students lined up. I don’t want them to repeatedly line up,” he added.

The DSWD central office will open at 7 a.m. while all regional, provincial, and satellite offices will open at 8 a.m.

“We are anticipating the influx. I was already told that around 2,000 to 5,000 will line up at the main office. So I alerted the entire DSWD,” he said.

When asked if there are “safety nets” to ensure that only indigents will line up for the cash assistance, Tulfo admitted that there were none but believed that only indigents would line up for hours to get the cash.