Palace to issue memo on release of SAP’s second tranche

FILE: The local government of General Trias, Cavite distributes PHP6,500 cash assistance under the Social Amelioration Program of the government to some 1,400 resident-beneficiaries of Barangay Santiago on Thursday (May 7, 2020). (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA – The memorandum setting guidelines on the distribution of the second tranche of emergency subsidies under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) will be released this week, Malacañang said on Wednesday.

“At lalabas naman po iyan siguro itong linggong ito para mag-simula na nga yung second tranche (It will be released, perhaps, this week so we can start the distribution of the second tranche),” said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in a virtual presser aired on state-run PTV-4.

Roque gave the assurance after Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista said a written order from Malacañang is needed before the second phase of SAP can be implemented.

Bautista, in an interview with CNN Philippines on Wednesday, said local government units (LGUs) also need to submit their liquidation reports prior to the distribution of the second tranche of cash aid to poor families to make sure that the right beneficiaries receive the payout.

Under the SAP, low-income households are entitled to receive emergency cash subsidies ranging from PHP5,000 to PHP8,000 based on the respective regional wage rates for the months of April and May.

The implementation of the first wave of SAP initially covered 18 million poor families.

But Roque announced Tuesday that an additional five million beneficiaries not included in the lists provided by LGUs would also get the first tranche of emergency subsidies.

As of May 12, LGUs have already distributed the financial assistance to 12,535,389 non-4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) SAP recipients, according to the data released by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

A total of 3,995,599 4Ps beneficiaries also received cash aid.

LGUs have so far disbursed some PHP75.927 billion out of the PHP81.638 billion downloaded to them by DSWD for the implementation of the first tranche of SAP.

Malacañang on Tuesday announced that poor families living in areas under ECQ will be qualified in the next wave of the emergency subsidies due to limited funds approved by Congress.

Bautista said around 11.1 million low-income households are expected to receive the second tranche of cash assistance under SAP.

“More or less po, aabot sila ng 11.

1 million families. Kasama na po dito ang left out at original 18 million na nakasama dito sa ECQ (More or less, there will be 11.1 million families. These include the left out and original 18 million residing in places under ECQ),” he said.

In a televised public address aired Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte announced that he once again directed the DSWD to be the sole agency to lead the implementation of SAP.

Duterte also said DSWD can seek the assistance of the military to hasten the distribution of the emergency subsidies.