ILOILO City – Of the 79,215 target beneficiaries of the national government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP) here, only 44,652 have so far received P6,000 cash assistance each as of May 10, the deadline set for the monetary aid’s distribution.
According to Mayor Jerry Treñas, the Development Bank of the Philippines ran out of cash, the city government did not have enough cashiers, and that social distancing was difficult to observe during the releasing.
The distribution by the City Social Welfare and Development Office would resume today.
“Ang finance committee nagapangayo sang tiempo nga i-reconcile ang tanan nga figures,” Treñas said.
The mayor also disclosed that children of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program households not included in the target SAP beneficiaries may now be accommodated, citing a new memorandum order from the Department of Social Welfare and Development. He said there are 13,000 slots for them.
Treñas ordered the barangay captains of 180 villages to identify those qualified.
For his part, Regional Director Ariel Iglesia of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said the agency was allowing the continued distribution of the SAP cash assistance even beyond the deadline.
“Tuloy-tuloy lang ang pamimigay dahil kailangan ng ating mga constituents,” said Iglesia.
He, however, confirmed having reported to the DILG central office those local government units (LGUs) in the region which failed to beat the deadline.
It would be up to the DILG central office what to do with these LGUs, said Iglesia.
In the whole Western Visayas, a total of 129 LGUs successfully met the deadline, data from DILG showed.
The number corresponded to 88.77 percent of the total 133 LGUs in the region.
DILG earlier said it would issue show cause orders to LGUs with “very poor performance” in the distribution of the emergency subsidy.
“Kailangan nilang ipaliwanag kung ano-ano ang mga problema at balakid kung bakit ‘di sila umabot sa deadline,” said Secretary Eduardo Año.
Nationwide, around 18 million low-income families were targeted to receive SAP assistance for two months as mandated by the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (Republic Act 11469)./PN
