MUCH have been said about the government’s Social Amelioration Program or SAP as a response to the quarantine brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, some in praise of the program while others maligning it.
There were a lot of questions also raised i.e. did it fulfill its purpose, or was it just another venue for corruption?
For those lost in translation and living under a rock, this is SAP:
SAP is a cash emergency subsidy program (ESP) for 18 million Filipino families whose lives are greatly affected by the ECQ. It’s mandated by the new law, the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act, which was signed by the President on March 25, 2020.
The program is headed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), in cooperation with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
As we are all aware and have experienced, the quarantine from ECQ to MGCQ has prevented most people from working, hence no income, meaning they could not provide for the basics particularly food for the family.
And this is where SAP comes in as a stop-gap measure to provide the basic needs of people while they cannot do their usual livelihood, at least in theory.
The Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1. Series 2020, signed by the implementing departments, states that each qualified family can receive at least P5,000 up to P8,000 per month for two months for basic food, medicine and toiletries. The amount varies, depending on the prevailing regional minimum wage rates and takes into account the other subsidy programs in cash or in-kind, under the DSWD.
In theory all families (take note it is per family) that were under quarantine are supposed to receive from the government cash provided that family is qualified.
This qualification requirement has been the bone of contention and some say the source of corruption between the implementers and beneficiaries, but that’s another story.
So who are qualified to receive SAP?
The government stressed that SAP’s priority are families who need cash assistance the most, particularly those belonging in the informal sector whose livelihood has been most affected by the ECQ. Apart from the database of the national government, the DSWD has also released additional qualifying factors. Families under the DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) are also automatically qualified and are priority beneficiaries of SAP.
So basically from all of the above the SAP beneficiaries would also include informal economy workers, homeless, indigenous people, single parents, elderly, drivers from jeepney to pedicab, and so and so forth.
To put it simply, all those who are not white collar workers are qualified for the SAP.
Which brings us to the question: What about the sex workers?
Sex workers are women, men and transgendered people who receive money or goods in exchange for sexual services, and who consciously define those activities as income-generating, a person who is employed in the sex industry.
In short, they’re your friendly neighbourhood prostitutes.
This is one industry that has been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, I know prostitution is still in theory illegal in the Philippines but we cannot deny the fact that it has been existing and thriving long before the Spaniards arrived on these islands.
The once lively and throbbing-with-life red light districts of Quezon Avenue in Quezon City, Burgos Street in Makati City, the strip joints in Cubao likewise for the strip joints on JM Basa Street in “I Am Iloilo City” are now like abandoned ghost towns.
The sex industry is not only the hardest hit but will probably never return to what it was before even if the virus COVID-19 weakens. Perhaps if there will be a successful vaccine the sex industry that we know may return.
The medical protocols for preventing the spread of the virus COVID-19 are also the ones preventing the sex industry or prostitution from functioning as it does traditionally.
What with the de rigueur wearing of facemask and social distancing. How can any prostitute and her/his customer do what they’re supposed to do at the risk of catching COVID-19? Suddenly your usual sexually transmitted disease seems like a harmless itch.
The sad part is: due to the unique and intimate nature of service sex workers offer, they can’t even work from home even if they wanted to.
So how do displaced sex workers describe themselves when applying for SAP? A formal or informal economy worker?
Has the government taken into consideration the plight of the displaced sex workers? If not, then it’s high time it does. After all, these people are not only citizens of the republic, they also have families and dependents to feed.
Stop the hypocrisy and save the displaced sex workers./PN
