P16.3 billion cash aid released to poor households

MANILA, Philippines — Beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) were among the first to receive the cash aid provided by the government for those affected by the measures imposed in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) confirmed the release of over P16.3 billion to cover the cash aid for some 3.7 milion beneficiaries of the 4Ps program.

The Land Bank of the Philippines began releasing the emergency cash aid amounting to P5,000 to P8,000 inclusive of health and rice subsidy – on Friday.

Among those who received their subsidies on Friday were beneficiaries from Metro Manila, Cordillera Administrative Region, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Regions I, II, III and IV-A.

Released on Saturday were those for Regions IV-B, V, VI, VII and IX.

Beneficiaries from other regions would receive their subsidy on Sunday.

Land Bank said the beneficiaries could withdraw their cash aid or use their cash cards to purchase goods from groceries and drug stores.

A total of P200 billion has been allotted by the government to provide the emergency subsidy to around 18 million families.

The cash aid for non-4Ps members will be released once qualified recipients have been identified by the local government units.

Some residents in Barangay Vitalez in Parañaque City received their cash aid on Friday.

The House of Representatives is set to review the implementation of the P200-billion social amelioration program for 18 million poor families severely affected by government measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said their Defeat Covid-19 ad hoc committee in the Lower House will hold a hearing via digital platform on April 8.

Invoking the oversight power of Congress on the implementation of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, he revealed that officials of the DSWD will be invited to the online conference to tackle the implementation of the emergency subsidy program as provided in the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.

“The President ordered immediate implementation of this program for poor families,” he stressed in Filipino in a Facebook live post. 

Prior to the hearing, the House leadership urged the DSWD to expedite the distribution of the P5,000 to P8,000 cash aid and simplify its process.

Deputy Speaker Lray Villafuerte echoed the Speaker’s appeal and urge the DSWD to utilize all its existing lists for beneficiaries of social programs that cover over 15 million poor families.

“The DSWD could do a better job of letting President Duterte throw his promised lifeline to an estimated 18 million household-beneficiaries by distributing the subsidy, beginning this weekend, to an estimated 15 million families on the list of poor, low-income and other underprivileged households,” the Camarines Sur representative suggested.

Villafuerte asked the DSWD to do away with the tedious process of validating roughly 80 percent of the target beneficiaries of the emergency subsidy program by releasing the cash transfers to the 15 million families on its existing Listahanan, many of whom are already receiving financial aid from the government’s assorted social protection programs on a regular basis. – With Edu Punay