THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues the implementation of the Emergency Subsidy Program under the Social Amelioration Program (ESP-SAP) for 18 million low-income families assessed to be most affected by the community quarantine.
The ESP-SAP program provides a P5,000 to P8,000 cash subsidy to poor families as mandated under Republic Act 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.
As of April 15, a total of 1,239 local government units were provided with funds amounting to P67.5 billion.
A total of 282,954 low income families who are not beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) have received their emergency cash assistance, equivalent to P1.57 billion.
Earlier, DSWD has also released the cash subsidy to more than 3.7 million family beneficiaries.
"All 4Ps beneficiaries with cash cards have received the emergency cash subsidy," DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista said.
DSWD is expected to expeditiously roll out the SAP distribution to the most vulnerable families as directed by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
"I am reiterating that our most vulnerable citizens, especially the poorest of the poor, must receive the government’s assistance immediately," President Duterte said in his April 6 address to the nation.
DSWD explained that the target of 18 million family-beneficiaries was based on the Department’s Listahanan 2015, a database of identified 15 million poor and near-poor families nationwide. From the 15 million families in the Listahanan, the government added three million families based on the population growth rate data from the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA). This official data source served as the basis in providing the indicative number of target beneficiaries per LGU across the country.
DSWD said that eligible families who are not in the initial list of beneficiaries may file an appeal with their respective Local Social Welfare and Development Offices (LSWDOs) within three days from the start of the distribution of Social Amelioration Cards (SAC) in their barangay.
The LSWDO shall then submit the consolidated appeals to the concerned DSWD Field Office for evaluation within three days.
"For the time being, we encourage LGUs to utilize their Local Development Fund (LDF) to provide assistance for those who are not covered by the ESP-SAP," Secretary Bautista added.
Aside from DSWD, other national government agencies are also implementing their own social amelioration programs as mandated by the law such as the Department of Labor and Employment’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay para sa Displaced/Disadvantaged Worker (TUPAD), Department of Trade and Industry’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), and Department of Agriculture’s Rice Farmers’ Financial Assistance (RFFA), among others.