BAGUIO CITY – Some 46,914 households from the city’s 128 barangays were able to receive the P5,500 financial assistance from the implementation of the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP).
City Social Welfare and Development Officer Betty F. Fangasan said that the local government was able to disburse approximately P256.1 million over the past several weeks to the validated SAP beneficiaries from the barangays.
She added that the disbursement of the financial assistance to the recipients formally ended last Monday while the liquidation report required from the city will be submitted to the Cordillera office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-CAR) the soonest together with the uploading of the clear copy of the list of beneficiaries.
Earlier, the DSWD-CAR gave the local government a quota of some 45,000 households as potential SAP beneficiaries pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 11469 or the Bayanihan To Heal Us One Act of 2020 that mandated the government to provide the needed financial assistance to the households who were heavily impacted following the implementation of the Luzonwide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
However, Fapangasan pointed out that as to the second tranche of the financial assistance, it is the DSWD that will decide on the future release of the financial assistance once it will ascertain that the impacted households in the general community quarantine (GCQ) areas are still qualified to get the said aid.
She expressed the local government’s gratitude to the hardworking barangay officials, volunteer teachers, dedicated social workers, the tireless law enforcers, and other volunteers who extended assistance to them in the screening, validation, processing and distribution of the financial assistance to the identified recipients.
Councilor Michael L. Lawana was elated after no barangay official in the city was included in the list of barangay officials in the country who had been charged by the Department of Interior and Local government (DILG) for their alleged abuses committed in the distribution of the financial assistance for the SAP beneficiaries in their areas of jurisdiction.
He claimed that despite the enormous tasks that were assigned to the barangay officials during the ECQ and the GCQ implementation, they were able to rise to the occasion and exerted extra effort just to ensure that the issues and concerns being raised by their constituents were brought to the attention of the concerned authorities who subsequently addressed the plight of the people on the ground.
Lawana stated that what was documented were several instances where there were SAP beneficiaries who did not declare their real status in their lives during the conduct of the interviews and validation that were done by the social workers in the different barangays.
He assured that the city’s barangay officials will remain committed in performing their assigned duties and responsibilities to ensure that the numerous programs, projects and activities of the government will be cascaded to the grassroots level for the guidance of the public on what to do during the community quarantine period.
By Dexter A. See
Photo by Armando M. Bolislis
