ILOILO City – An estimated 1.8 million families in Western Visayas would each be receiving P6,000 financial assistance from the government’s social amelioration program due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development Office (DSWD) Region 6 has been tasked to release the assistance through local government units (LGUs).
Of the over a million target families, 325,000 families are already beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) that each receive P2,150 monthly.
Thus, according to DSWD Region 6 public information officer May Rago-Castillo, these 4Ps families would be receiving an additional P3,850 to reach the amount of P6,000.
The other 1,475,000 families will each receive the whole P6,000 assistance.
The prevailing regional minimum wage of P395 per day was used as basis for determining the amount of financial aid for each family, added Rago.
For a family to qualify for the social amelioration program, it must have any of the following as members:
* senior citizens
* persons with disability
* pregnant women
* lactating mothers
* solo parent
* overseas Filipino worker in distress
* indigent
* homeless
* informal workers
* occasional workers like househelpers, drivers of pedicabs, tricycles, taxis, public utility buses, and public utility jeepneys
* micro-entrepreneurs
* sub-minimum wage earners
* farmers, fishermen (provided they are not recipients of assistance from the Department of Agriculture
* workers in the private sector observing “no work, no pay” family (provided they have not availed themselves of the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program of the Department of Labor and Employment)
There are two releases for the social amelioration fund, thus a family would be receiving P12,000 in total, said Rago-Castillo.
The first release will be made within the enhanced community quarantine period; the second release is after the quarantine.
According to Rago-Castillo, the LGUs may tap barangay captains to release the financial assistance house-to-house so as to avoid large gatherings what would make it difficult to observe social distancing – another strategy to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The DSWD central office earlier declared “force majeure” for the 4Ps program covering February and March, which suspends the monitoring of compliance that serves as the basis for the computation of cash grants.
This was later on extended to cover the months of April and May.
DSWD said it has already coordinated with LGUs and city/municipal links to ensure that proper arrangements will be made and that social distancing and other health safety protocols will be strictly observed during the withdrawal of emergency cash assistance.
Under Republic Act (RA) 11469 or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One” Act, 18 million low-income households, including 4Ps household beneficiaries, are expected to receive emergency cash assistance to cushion the impact of the public health emergency due to COVID-19.
The DSWD reminded all its beneficiaries to be vigilant and to only believe and rely on information released by the official social media accounts and website of the Department./PN