THE Department of Social Welfare and Development Davao Region (DSWD-Davao) has disbursed a total of over P102 million to the students region-wide as the final payout for its educational assistance program was held on September 24. This is from the initial P74 million budget allocated from DSWD Central Office.
Earlier, DSWD confirmed that the last day of disbursement for the education assistance program was on September 24, 2022. The department added that it has augmented roughly P26 million budget to at least extend the number of recipients of the financial aid.
“P74 million po ang budget so utilized na po lahat from the Central Office but may augmentation funds from the Regional Office (We have already fully utilized the P74 million budget allocated to us by the Central Office but we have augmentation funds from the regional office). Expected amount natin is over P100 million for Region 11 (Davao Region) (We expect our total funds to be over P100 million for Region 11),” lawyer Vanessa Goc-ong, regional director of DSWD-11, said in a text message to SunStar Davao on September 22, 2002.
Based on the data provided by DSWD, out of the 150,000 applicants, only 47,114 students have benefited from the program region-wide and they were able to release P102,276,000 million.
According to Goc-ong some applications have been rejected.
“Common reasons for rejection are incomplete documentary requirements and meron po hindi qualified based sa criteria (and there were also who applied who were not qualified based on the given criteria),” Goc-ong said.
She said that all applicants were not accommodated due to budget constraints.
“For those who cannot avail, per directive from Central Office ipa-intindi lang na limited budget lang po (we need to let them understand that we only have a limited budget),” Goc-ong said.
In its final payout, DSWD said they have disbursed P21,369,000 to 11,181 students region-wide.
DSWD said in Davao City, there are 3,819 students who have received the financial aid, Davao del Norte has 1,312 beneficiaries, Davao del Sur has 2,696 beneficiaries, Davao Oriental has 359, Davao Occidental has 1,677 beneficiaries, and 1,318 in Davao de Oro.
Meanwhile, DSWD reminded everyone that the program is not a one-time program only but yearly, so those who were not accommodated may apply next year.