THE PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) said it has sent a team that will undergo a two-day orientation on the distribution of the second tranche of the government's social amelioration program (SAP).
In a statement late Sunday, PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said the team will attend the webinar set on June 15 and 16 to be led by Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, in compliance with the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to help in the distribution of the second tranche SAP, together with the Department of the Interior Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“This will define and direct the PNP personnel’s role in assisting the DSWD in the management and distribution of cash assistance to qualified beneficiaries as well as the waitlisted families,” Banac said.
The second tranche of SAP will be given to the entitled beneficiaries in the following areas -- National Capital Region, Central Luzon (except Aurora), Calabarzon, Benguet, Pangasinan, Iloilo Province, Cebu Province, Bacolod, Davao City, Albay Province, and Zamboanga City.
Duterte earlier tapped the PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to distribute the SAP after several complaints were filed about the supposed misuse of SAP funds by local executives and the slow distribution of aid in some areas.
He also ordered the inclusion of an additional five million qualified recipients in the government’s emergency subsidy program.
SAP, the national government’s PHP200-billion program, grants monthly emergency subsidy ranging from PHP5,000 to PHP8,000 to poor families affected by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) for April and May.
Around PHP100 billion have already been released for the implementation of the first phase of SAP.
Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act also known as Republic Act 11469, some 18 million poor families were targeted in the first tranche of the cash aid.
For the second tranche of emergency subsidies, only 12 million of 18 million families who are living in areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) will get the assistance.
An additional five million indigent families will join the 12 million under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation program, one of the 13 social amelioration packages under SAP that grants outright cash of either PHP3,000 or PHP5,000 and PHP25,000 burial aid for those whose family member dies due to Covid-19.
On May 14, the DSWD launched the web application “ReliefAgad” to speed up the distribution of emergency subsidies to low-income Filipino households affected by the health crisis.
ReliefAgad, a quick-relief system, would allow DSWD to quickly get the details of SAP beneficiaries and distribute the cash aid through an electronic payment using their smartphones. By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan)
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