Over 41K families benefit from Bayanihan 2 cash aid: DSWD

FILE: DSWD Eastern Visayas Patuloy sa Pamimigay ng Waitlisted Emergency Subsidy (Photo: DSWD Eastern Visayas/Facebook)

MANILA – More than 41,000 families have received financial assistance through the emergency subsidy program (ESP) under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said on Thursday.

Based on its latest report as of 8 p.m. on Dec. 2, the DSWD has distributed more than PHP42 million to 7,573 family beneficiaries who were living in areas under “granular lockdown” since September 13.

In the same program, the DSWD has also rolled out PHP232.7 million to the 33,964 “additional beneficiaries” or those families who were not included in the earlier implementation of the social amelioration program (SAP).

According to the agency’s guidelines, families who will qualify to receive the ESP are those: (1) affected low-income families in areas under gradual lockdown, (2) those qualified families, but were not granted SAP 1 and 2 subsidies under Republic Act 11469, (3) and recently returned overseas Filipino workers who belong to a low-income family and are physically residing in an area under granular lockdown.

They are entitled to receive an emergency cash subsidy ranging from PHP5,000 to PHP 8,000 regardless of the number of times that their area has been declared under granular lockdown, and regardless of any extension of the declared lockdown.