BACOLOD City – The Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD) has temporarily suspended the processing of financial assistance for people economically displaced by the ongoing stringent community quarantine in this city.
Pacita Tero, DSSD head, announced the indefinite suspension over the weekend.
“The DSSD is reassessing the program and evaluating strategies to safely and efficiently distribute the assistance,” she said.
Last week, photos of people crowding the New Government Center to process their financial assistance made rounds on social media.
Most of them were public utility vehicle drivers and workers of business establishments.
The Bacolod Employers Union, a group composes of micro, small and medium enterprises in the city, said the incident was a “grave violation” of health and safety protocols imposed in light of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threat.
But Tero explained that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) earlier tasked her office to identify, interview and distribute additional financial aid the “most affected sectors during this COVID-19 crisis.”
The procedure to process this financial assistance was made to accommodate only those who were already pre-identified for interview, she said.
“We started interviewing on Sept. 19 and have been targeting a quota of around 100 people per day,” Tero added.
With this going on for nearly a week now, Tero said “the number that turned out on Saturday morning came as a complete shock to us.”
“People began to cut in line, putting those who came earlier including seniors, in an uncomfortable and unsafe situation. The crowd was so big in magnitude that we saw it was no longer manageable or feasible to continue our usual distribution so the police officers on duty immediately instructed everyone to vacate the area,” the DSSD head said.
Meanwhile, the DSWD will conduct an assessment and validation to determine the qualification to receive the emergency subsidy for this city following the implementation of the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) here.
In a reply letter to Cong. Greg Gasataya dated Sept. 24, DSWD secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista said that based on Bayanihan Act II, an allocation amounting to P6 billion was allocated to DSWD for the implementation of its programs to help those most affected by the global pandemic.
“The DSWD recognizes the community quarantine classification of this city and the needs of the people,” Bautista added.
To recall, Gasataya sent a letter to Bautista requesting him to prioritize this city in the distribution of subsidies.
This city is under MECQ until Sept. 30 due to rising of local COVID-19 cases./PN
