THE Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD) in Bacolod City already released the second tranche of cash assistance under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) in some barangays in the city Thursday, July 23, 2020.
Bacolod City has more than 75,000 SAP beneficiaries and each beneficiary will receive P6,000.
The cash grant distribution, which was led by the DSSD, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), City Treasurer’s Office, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Bacolod City Police Office, was scheduled Thursday in Barangays 19, 20, 23, Pahanocoy, among other barangays.
Pacita Tero, head of DSSD-Bacolod, said the cash grant will be distributed per barangay and the barangays are required to provide one venue per 1,000 SAP beneficiaries.
“The official list of SAP beneficiaries was already forwarded to the barangay including the schedule of the releasing, and if the barangay has more than 1,000 SAP recipients, they are required to provide two more venues. In every venue, there should be only 1, 000 recipients to observe the physical distancing,” she said.
She added the lists of the second wave of cash assistance were validated by the DSWD Central Office and about 5,000 beneficiaries were not included in the final list.
Tero noted that those who received doubled cash assistance from other government agencies were not included in the second wave of cash aid.
Congressman Greg Gasataya earlier said a total of P455.5 million had been downloaded by the DSWD-Western Visayas for the second tranche of SAP to Bacolod City.
He said these funds will be distributed to 75, 926 SAP beneficiaries in the city.
Last month, the City Government released the SAP grant of P6,000 each to 98,143 beneficiary-families, or a total of P588, 858,000 from 61 barangays in the city.
Moreover, Mayor Evelio Leonardia is upbeat that the P1.3 billion public fund infusion through the SAP of the national government will pump-prime the local economy even amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) crisis.
After an initial release of P588.9 million for 98,143 families, a second tranche is now being distributed to all barangays.
“This is a tremendous help to our people at a time when our economy is feeling the effects of this health crisis and this will go a long, long way in helping needy families,” Leonardia said.
Leonardia, who heads the League of Cities of the Philippines and sits in the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council, thanked President Rodrigo Duterte who approved a second tranche release for Bacolod after the city had requested for an extension of its enhanced community quarantine status (from April 30 to May 15, 2020) last April 28.
The mayor also gives special credit to Malacañang Protocol Officer Jasmin Egan, who helped justify to DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista that Bacolod needs this social amelioration assistance.
“Jasmin Egan is a true Bacolodnon. She is a city patriot and has contributed so much to help our needy,” Leonardia said.
Bacolod is one of the few cities that were given the SAP second tranche releases among the 146 cities nationwide.
The SAP, provided for under the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act, consists of two releases of P6,000 each over two months for qualified beneficiaries.
Records show the first tranche benefitted 98,143 residents who availed a total of P588.9 million.
A total of 188.5 million will go to the 15,713 who were listed as “left out" or those who did not avail of the first tranche. They will receive P12,000 per family which is equivalent to two months.
The total releases for Bacolod will amount to about P1.3 billion.
Leonardia added that with more than 113,000 family-beneficiaries in the city, the majority of the more than half a million residents would benefit from the government's subsidy program.