BY GLENDA TAYONA
ILOILO City – Unlike the messy first payout a week ago, the second round of educational assistance distribution of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Western Visayas on Aug. 27 was no longer chaotic.
“Generally peaceful, organized kag smooth. It was way better and improved,” said Atty. Mae Rago-Castillo, regional information officer of DSWD-6.
The educational assistance is for students in crisis situations enrolled this school year. They could be their family’s breadwinners; working students; children of unemployed parents, solo parents, overseas Filipino workers in distress or those with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); orphaned, abandoned or staying with their relatives; abused or displaced children; and victims of human-induced or natural calamities.
From one venue per province, the distribution shifted to per district.
“No untoward incident happened. The additional payout sites helped ensure that,” said Rago-Castillo.
Strictly controlling the number of people that showed up, only those who received a text message or email about their scheduled payout were accommodated and assessed.
Qualified beneficiary enrolled in elementary grades received P1,000; P2,000 for secondary; P3,000 for Senior High School; and P4,000, college/vocational course. The assistance is limited to three children per family.
DSWD-6 had a total target of 8,905 applicants for the second Saturday of payout but of these, only 7,852 were approved.
Some applicants were not outright qualified for this DSWD Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) Program; others failed to bring with them the required authenticated documents, explained Rago-Castillo.
Of the approved beneficiaries, 2,581 were from Iloilo (city and province); 1,687 from Negros Occidental (including Bacolod City); 1,063 from Antique; 958 from Aklan; 696 from Capiz; and 867 from Guimaras.
DSWD-6 disbursed a total of P22,786,000 cash assistance in the second Saturday of distribution.
This benefited 1,692 elementary pupils (P1,692,000), 1,278 high school students (P2,556,000), 989 senior high school (P2,966,000), and 3,893 college/vocational students (P15,572,000).
The number of whole region beneficiaries served on this second Saturday of distribution was higher than the 5,260 (P21.37 million) during the first payout.
DSWD set the distribution on the following dates: Aug. 20 and 27 and Sept. 3, 10, 17 and 24.
In Iloilo City, Mayor Jerry Treñas thanked the personnel of City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) and Philippine National Police (PNP) for assisting DSWD-6. Over 900 students and parents in the city received educational assistance on Saturday.
“Bululigan ta lang ang aton pumuluyo,” said Treñas.
The city mayor earlier slammed the regional office for not coordinating with the city government for the first Saturday distribution.
Citing what happened on Aug. 20, DSWD-6 officer- in-charge Delia Bagolcol said, “One lesson learned is to ensure partnership with the local government units.”/PN
