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An additional group of 5 million poor families affected by the new coronavirus disease crisis (Covid-19) may soon receive monetary aid from the government.
In an online briefing, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) made the recommendation at the request of President Duterte to expand coverage of the Social Improvement Program (SAP).
Under SAP, 18 million poor families will initially receive monthly monetary assistance, for two months with a budget of P200 billion.
“Now there are not only 18 million families, who will receive the first tranche of the Social Improvement Program. With the additional 5 million, there will now be 23 million [beneficiaries] in line with the president’s promise to give more [cash aid] to those who need it, “said Roque.
Roque added that the additional 5 million beneficiaries will include those who were not initially included in the SAP beneficiary list of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and local government units (LGU).
“DSWD already has the guidelines and we also have an appeal procedure. So DSWD will look at families who were first rejected out of the 18 million [beneficiaries of the first tranche of SAP]Roque said.
Despite the additional beneficiaries for the first tranche of SAP, Roque said the government will no longer need an additional budget to give them cash aid.
This after Malacañang said it is proposing that the second tranche of SAP will now only cover areas, which remain under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ).
Therefore, less than 18 million beneficiaries are expected to benefit from this phase of SAP, which will be distributed this month.
Currently, the areas that remain under the ECQ until May 15, 2020 are the National Capital Regions 3 (except the province of Aurora) and 4A, the provinces of Pangasinan, Benguet, Iloilo, Cebu, Albay and the cities of Bacolod, Davao and Zamboanga City.
