ONLY 16, 101 out of over 20,000 low-income families will receive a financial assistance of P5,000 under the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP) in Maasin City, Southern Leyte.
“As much as we want all our low-income-earner Maasinhon families to be part of the SAP, we are bound to follow the directives from the national government and follow the allocation they have provided,” said Mayor Nacional Mercado.
The mayor learned about the cash aid allocation for the city during an orientation for SAP with the personnel from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Eastern Visayas.
“Rest assured that we will coordinate closely to our barangay officials to give priority to the low-income earners, with that information we asked for everybody’s understanding and cooperation,” Mercado said.
According to the mayor, the 16,101 family beneficiaries shall be screened by the city social workers.
“We are confident that our social workers will do their jobs with utmost discretion and professionalism, making sure that the poorest of the poor will be the beneficiaries,” said Mercado, reiterating that it is the national government that provided a specific number of target beneficiaries for each city and municipality across the country.
“For the part of the local government unit (LGU), with or without SAP, we will continue to be of service to the Maasinhons, until we will be able to make it through this pandemic,” the mayor said.
As of Friday, April 3, the P80 million SAP funds have no yet received by the city.
“It will only be downloaded to the LGU upon completion of documentary requirements,” he said.
The SAP beneficiaries will also receive their Social Amelioration (SA) cards once it will be available.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Republic Act (RA) 11469 or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” on March 28, 2020, which allotted P200 billion in cash aid to about 18 million low-income families for two months as the country is bracing for the deadly coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. (SunStar Philippines)