DSWD distributes 98.6% of SAP 2 aid

FILE: Sixty-nine-year old Armando Cruz Prado (sitting), receives PHP8,000 in cash aid from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) during the distribution of cash assistance under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) at Barangay Doña Josefa in Quezon City on Wednesday (April 29, 2020). (PNA photo by Joey O. Razon)

MANILA – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is almost finished in its distribution of the second tranche of the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP).

On Monday, the agency said that as of 8 p.m. of September 20, it has covered 13,903,946 of their projected 14.1-million family beneficiaries of the SAP 2 aid.

The distributed aid amounts to PHP83.1 billion.

Meanwhile, DSWD Undersecretary Rene Glen Paje said in a virtual press briefing that their partner financial service providers have recorded around 853,000 failed transactional accounts in the National Capital Region (NCR).

He explained this is due to mismatched information from their social amelioration card (SAC) forms to their transactional accounts, middle names, birthdays, and mobile numbers, among others.

He said the beneficiaries’ personal information provided in their mobile wallet registration and in the payroll were different.

He said there were also duplication of mobile numbers or failure to provide cellphone numbers.

Of the 853,000 failed transactional accounts, 660,000 were from GCash; 111,000 were from PayMaya; more than 60,000 from UnionBank; and over 20,000 failed transactions from Robinsons bank.

In previous reports, DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista vowed that they will complete the distribution by September.

The “Bayanihan to Heal As One” Act has given the national government powers to provide emergency subsidies to low-income families.

The Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1 of 2020 stated that the subsidy shall amount to a minimum of PHP5,000 to a maximum of PHP8,000 a month for two months to provide for basic food, medicine and toiletries.