247,000 families in Davao Region receive cash assistance

THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Davao reported that a total of 247,181 qualified low-income families have been served and received P6,000 emergency cash assistance in Davao Region as of April 13.

DSWD-Davao Information Officer Kristelle May Catigan told SunStar Davao Monday, April 13, that this is 25.9 percent of the estimated number of target 953,521 beneficiary families.

DSWD-Davao has already distributed P1.4 billion cash assistance to affected families of the crisis.

Of the number, 31,957 families in Davao City have been served, 29,330 in Davao del Sur, 32,421 in Davao Occidental, 55,584 in Davao del Norte, 59,511 in Davao de Oro; and 38,378 in Davao Oriental.

Catigan said they target to finish the distribution within two weeks to help indigent families cushion the impact of the enhanced community quarantine.

DSWD-Davao has a P4.1 billion budget under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP).

She added that out of the 49 local government units (LGUs), they have transferred funds to a total of 42 LGUs, while the remaining seven are still in the process of complying with the needed requirements such as the memorandum of agreement.

During the payout, Catigan assured that the necessary precautionary measures have been observed by social workers such as wearing masks and social distancing with a meter distance to prevent contamination.

"One of the identified mechanisms is house to house but case to case siya like for example if naay purok pwede sila itapok sa gym ba pero regulated gihapon ang mga tao (It's a case to case basis for example if one purok can gather recipients in a gym)," Catigan said.

Catigan cited that the distribution is running smoothly with no major setbacks with the help of other government agencies.

"So far, maayos naman ang coordination between DSWD and the LGU kay we also have the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and PNP (Philippine National Police) with us," she added.

DSWD will distribute cash aid for a period of two months -- April and May.

On Monday, DSWD Davao said they transformed their seminar hall into a regional operation center (OpCen) for the implementation of the Emergency Subsidy Program under the Social Amelioration Program of the government.

"The OpCen has a conference area for daily meetings of the technical working group, an area for the repository of data through the Data Collection and Communication cluster, and a receiving area for inquiries forwarded to the official hotlines of the field office," DSWD Davao said.