300,000 poor families have yet to receive 1st SAP – Duterte

Published June 9, 2020, 10:30 AM

Around 300,000 poor families have yet to receive their cash grants under the first tranche implemented by the national government based on a report submitted by President Duterte to Congress.

The President said that as of June 5, at least 17,640,907 families have benefited from the emergency subsidy program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, or 98 percent of the 17,946,554 estimated beneficiaries. The number of remaining families awaiting cash aid is 305,647.

At least P99.7 billion has so far been disbursed out of the P101.4 billion allocated amount for the first tranche of the financial aid program for the poor families.

The beneficiaries served included 4,235,289 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), 13,307,486 non-4Ps; and 98,132 TNVS and public utility drivers and operators in Metro Manila

“There is no significant development in the breakdown of payouts to non 4Ps beneficiaries per region from last week. However, the target beneficiaries continue to be adjusted as the DSWD excludes listed names in the original lists for not being qualified,” Duterte said.

Aid for workers, farmers

The President also reported that the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has so far spent P1.452 billion for the cash aid of 142,039 displaced overseas Filipino workers under the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) Abot-kamay ang pagtulong (AKAP). The labor department’s subisidy program has a P2.5 billion allocation to benefit 250,000 OFWs.

On the two other DOLE programs namely: CAMP for Affected Formal Workers and Tulong Panghanapbuhay para sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD), the President said all target beneficiaries have been served. The budget allocations have also been fully utilized.

Around P2.9 billion has also been released for the financial assistance of 591,246 rice farmers under the aid program of the Department of Agriculture.

Small business wage subsidy

As of June 4, the President said the Social Security System (SSS) has released cash grants to 2.99 million displaced employees out of the 3.4 million total approved workers under the first tranche of the Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) program. At least P22.5 billion has been utilized from the P25.5 billion budget allocation.

In the second tranche, at least 1,010,162 employees have so far received the financial aid amounting to PhP6.65 billion.

Under the P50.8 billion SBWS program, the subsidy will range from P5,000 to P8,000 pesos per eligible employee for two months based on the regional minimum wage. To avoid duplication, beneficiaries of the DOLE’s one-time P5,000 cash grant will only be eligible for a one-month wage SBWS subsidy.

Duterte said the Department of Finance reported that 193,000 of the 680,000 CAMP beneficiaries benefitted from the first tranche of the SBWS. These beneficiaries will either receive the differential amount of the SBWS and CAMP, or will not receive any SBWS at all for the second tranche.

“The CAMP beneficiaries in Regions IV-B, V, VIII, IX, XII, CAR, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will not be eligible for the second tranche of SBWS since the SBWS is equal to the CAMP subsidy of PhP5,000.17,” he added.

SOURCE: https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/06/09/300000-poor-families-have-yet-to-receive-1st-sap-duterte/