Next cash aid to include 5 M more households
Around five million eligible households will be included in the second tranche of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP), bringing to 17 million the targeted beneficiaries this month, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said yesterday.
Eligible persons living in enhanced community quarantine areas will be prioritized in the distribution of cash assistance in the amount of P5,000 to P8,000 each, Medialdea added.
Those who are living in areas categorized as general community quarantine will also be getting the much needed boost amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
In a two-page memorandum dated May 22, Malacañang also ordered the InterAgency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) and concerned agencies to work on the immediate distribution of cash assistance to the impoverished sector of society.
“For the second tranche of the SAP implementation, include the additional five million eligible households to the 12 million beneficiaries under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program of the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development),” Medialdea said.
The AICS is part of DSWD’s protective services for the poor, marginalized and vulnerable or disadvantaged individuals. The AICS has been implemented by the DSWD for decades, as part of its technical assistance and resource augmentation support to LGUs (local government units) and other partners.
Medialdea said the second tranche of cash assistance will be “subject to validation by the concerned national government agencies in coordination with the respective local government units.”
On orders of President Duterte, the Palace official also called on the DSWD, Departments of Labor and Employment, Trade and Industry, Agriculture, Budget and Management, Finance, Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Privacy Commission (NPC) for cooperation to speed up the processing of the distribution of SAP.
Malacañang reiterated Duterte’s call to ensure transparency in the program, which will also include the posting of names of the beneficiaries online.
Medialdea ordered the DSWD, DICT and the NPC to create a platform that would reflect the recipients of the emergency cash subsidies.
This would be in line with the need to accelerate the delivery of the SAP benefits to qualified beneficiaries and to promote transparency, the Palace official said.
Malacañang also wants to make sure that only those who are eligible under the different programs of the SAP will get the emergency financial subsidies.
The Office of the President came out with the decision following the recommendation of the IATF embodied under Resolution No. 31 (s. 2020) dated May 1 and pursuant to Republic Act 11469, otherwise known as the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.
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