DSWD: Displaced OFWs’ families among SAP’s target beneficiaries

MANILA, Philippines — Families of overseas Filipinos in distress are among the target beneficiaries of the government Social Amelioration Program (SAP), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reiterated yesterday.

It said the overseas Filipinos, under the SAP omnibus guidelines, are considered vulnerable members of the community and are therefore among those most affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

The DSWD classified the distressed overseas Filipinos as those who were repatriated, or who have no income or remittance due to COVID-19, or were banned from traveling outside the Philippines or stranded in the country on account of the pandemic, thereby, preventing their capacity to work abroad, from January 2020 until the lifting of ECQ.

It added that families with members abroad who have no other source of income since January 2020 until the lifting of quarantine will qualify under the SAP.

These Filipinos in distress should get in touch with their respective local government units (LGUs) to declare their status and ask for inclusion, which will then be assessed at the barangay level.

It will be the barangay that will validate and verify the status of the repatriated or stranded Filipinos on their eligibility as beneficiary.

The DSWD, however, said that availment of other government programs, such as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) financial assistance for displaced land-based and sea-based Filipino workers, should be declared by the individual members of the affected sector to avoid duplication.

As of Saturday, 1,193 local government units were able to beat the May 10 deadline for the distribution of emergency cash subsidy under SAP, the Department of the Interior and Local Government said.

The national payout rate reached 88.43 percent. Distribution also lasted until last night as the LGUs rushed to reach the midnight deadline. – Rainier Allan Ronda