Families of distressed overseas Filipinos qualified for SAP

In a press release, DSWD said under the department’s Omnibus Guidelines in the Implementation of the Social Amelioration Program, OFs are considered vulnerable members of the community and are among the most affected by the enhanced community quarantine. (File photo by Ramon FVelasquez/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

MANILA – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD reiterated Sunday that families of Overseas Filipinos (OFs) in distress are among the target beneficiaries of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP).

In a press release, DSWD said under the department’s Omnibus Guidelines in the Implementation of the Social Amelioration Program, OFs are considered vulnerable members of the community and are among the most affected by the enhanced community quarantine.

They are those who were repatriated, or who have no income or remittance from OFs due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, or those who were banned from traveling outside the Philippines or stranded herein on account of the Covid-19 outbreak, thereby, preventing their capacity to work abroad, from January until the lifting of the community quarantine.

Families with OFs who have no other source of income since January until the lifting of the community quarantine will qualify under the SAP.

OFs may get in touch with their respective local government units or barangay officers through on demand requests, which will then be assessed at the barangay level. In this way, the barangay can validate and verify the status of “no work, no pay” of OFs in their localities.

Availment of other agency programs, such as the provision of financial assistance for displaced land-based and sea-based Filipino workers due to Covid-19 of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for OFWs should also be considered in the qualification of OFs as SAP beneficiaries to avoid duplication of assistance as prescribed in the guidelines.

DSWD, DILG and the LGUs continue to work closely to deliver SAP to low income families who are most affected by the enhanced community quarantine. (PR)