ILOILO City – Today is the last day of the one-week extension given to local government units (LGUs) to finish distributing the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) cash assistance.
The city government here, however, plans to ask for another extension.
As of yesterday morning, 61,204 SAP beneficiaries or 77 percent of the identified 79,215 beneficiaries were able to receive their cash assistance of P6,000 each, data from the City Social Welfare Development Office (CSWDO) showed.
The deadline was originally on April 30 but due to the slow distribution by the LGUs, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) agreed to give a one-week extension.
“Nagabira-bira kita, aga kag hapon ang pagpanagtag…ko pwede asta sa gab-I para malagas ang target nga maubos tanan nga barangay,” said Mayor Jerry Treñas yesterday.
Iloilo City has 180 barangays.
Treñas admitted it would be difficult to complete the SAP cash assistance distribution today.
“I already signed the letter requesting the DILG and DSWD for another extension,” he said.
What’s slowing down the distribution?
According to Treñas, social distancing being implemented to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease 2019, is a factor.
Another, he said, was the additional beneficiaries just recently included in the list of SAP targets.
In the whole Western Visayas as of yesterday only 40 LGUs were able to complete their SAP cash distribution, DSWD Region 6 data showed.
The region has 133 LGUs. The 40 LGUs were in the provinces of Guimaras (five), Antique (14,) Capiz (12), Negros Occidental (six), and Aklan (three).
In DSWD’s SAP guidelines, eligible for cash assistance are low-income families with members belonging to vulnerable sectors such as the following:
* senior citizens
* persons with disability
* pregnant women
* lactating mothers
* solo parents
* overseas Filipino workers in distress
* 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” (provided they have not availed themselves of the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program of the Department of Labor and Employment)./PN
