The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has distributed almost P78.4 billion to more than 13.1 million family-beneficiaries of the second tranche of the emergency cash subsidy under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP).

As of August 20, the subsidy has already been provided to almost 1.4 million Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries; over 5.7 million low-income, non-4Ps families; more than 3.1 million waitlisted families nationwide; and over 1.7 million families in areas under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). Moreover, some 128,074 Transport Network Vehicle Service/Public Utility Vehicle drivers have received the aid.

DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista, during a virtual presser on August 18,  explained that  some 300,000 names of beneficiaries are yet to be uploaded by local government units (LGUs), while more than 200,000 names have been returned for validation due to lack of information, such as cellphone numbers and middle names of the beneficiaries.

“Ito ang mga kadahilanan ng kaunting pagka-antala ng pamamahagi ng ayuda” (These are causing the little delay in the distribution of the aid), he added.

DSWD has given LGUs until August 19 to upload the additional social amelioration card forms of the beneficiaries to process their subsidies.

The Department’s manual payouts have also been affected by the imposition of the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), as well as the rising cases of COVID-19 among its employees, which required many of its personnel to undergo self-quarantine.

DSWD is exhausting all means and has been coordinating closely with LGUs and its partner-Financial Service Providers (FSPs) to finish the distribution of the SAP the soonest possible time. ##