Over 51,000 beneficiaries received multiple assistance from SAP 1 – DSWD
The number of beneficiaries who received multiple assistance during the first phase of the implementation of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) has increased to over 51,000, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said on Tuesday.
DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista said they found around 51,553 “duplicate” beneficiaries for the first tranche.
“Base sa post validation na ginagawa ng field offices ay mayroon ng 51, 553 recipients ng first tranche ng SAP ang may nakitang duplikasyon, nakatanggap din ng ayuda galing sa ibang ahensiya ng gobyerno (Based on the post validation being conducted by the field offices, we found 51,553 duplicate recipients for the first tranche of SAP. They received cash aid from other agencies of the government),” he said during the “Laging Handa” network briefing.
The DSWD Chief said they are continuously intensifying their validation and deduplication efforts to come up with a “clean list” of SAP beneficiaries for the second tranche, which is expected to benefit 17 million low-income family-beneficiaries, including the five million “waitlisted” beneficiaries.
In a virtual press briefing last June 16, Bautista disclosed that based on their validation and deduplication process, around 22,868 beneficiaries have “received multiple assistance from other government agencies, while others are ineligible.”
During the network briefing, he assured Lipa Mayor Eric Africa that the distribution of the second wave of subsidies in Region IV-A (Calabarzon) will start as soon as they complete their validation and deduplication process.
“We are just securing the clean list. We have to be careful in our validation because we have uncovered a big number of duplicates,” he said in Pilipino.
Malacañang had assured the public that the distribution of SAP 2 will be faster once the deduplication process is completed.
“Hopefully, within this week or by next week umpisahan natin yung pamamahagi ng second tranche para sa ating beneficiaries (we can start the distribution of second tranche for the beneficiaries). Alam naman natin na ang Region IV-A ay mabibigyan sa second tranche (We know that Region
IV-A will be given the second tranche),” he added.
He said the SAP payouts to waitlisted beneficiaries are ongoing in Region I (Ilocos) and Region III (Central Luzon), particularly in Pampanga, apart from the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
The 11 areas covered by SAP 2 are Region III, except Aurora province, the National Capital Region (NCR), Calabarzon, Benguet, Pangasinan, Iloilo, Cebu Province, Bacolod City, Davao City, Albay Province, and Zamboanga City.
Bautista noted that more than P6.746 billion of the second tranche of cash subsidies have been distributed. The first recipients of SAP 2 included 1,336,635 beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) who are cash card holders.