72% of families received government financial assistance — SWS

MANILA, Philippines — Seven in 10 Filipino families say they received financial assistance from the government since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a latest survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

The SWS mobile phone survey, conducted from July 3 to 6, showed 72 percent of adult Filipinos saying their families received “money-help” from the government since the pandemic started.

The survey was released on Sunday, the eve of President Duterte’s 5th State of the Nation Address (SONA).

According to the SWS, the proportion of those saying their families received cash assistance from the government was highest in Metro Manila at 85 percent, followed by balance Luzon with 75 percent; Mindanao, 65 percent; and the Visayas, 64 percent.

It was 72 percent in both urban and rural areas, the pollster said.

Those who claimed their families received cash aid from the government were higher among women at 75 percent than men at 67 percent, the SWS noted.

More families among the less educated received financial assistance from the government, it said.

The proportion of those saying their families received money-help from the government was higher among non-elementary graduates at 71 percent, elementary graduates at 75 percent, junior high school graduates at 77 percent and those with some college at 71 percent compared to college graduates at 58 percent.

The SWS poll used mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviewing of 1,555 adult Filipinos, 18 years old and above, nationwide.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said it aims to complete the distribution of the second tranche of cash aid under the government’s social amelioration program (SAP) by the end of this month.

As of July 22, the DSWD said it has distributed P22.7 billion to 3.7 million beneficiaries under the second tranche of the SAP.