MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Monday gave assurance that vulnerable sectors affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak will receive aid.
DSWD said that this is in accordance with Republic Act No. 11469 or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” which Congress had passed and President Rodrigo Duterte recently signed.
“The DSWD will provide social amelioration measures amounting to P5,000 to P8,000 for two months to families belonging to vulnerable sectors who have been affected by the community quarantine amid the COVID-19 crisis as mandated by Republic Act 11469 or the ‘Bayanihan to Heal as One Act,’” the department said.
“The Emergency Subsidy Program includes the DSWD’s provision of food and non-food items (FNFI) and financial assistance through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) as well as those provided by other agencies, provided that the benefits received by each household does not exceed the prescribed threshold per region,” it added.
According to DSWD, the amount that a worker would get depends on the maximum subsidy per region, determined from the region’s wage levels. After this, local government units would help the department prepare the list of targeted persons that would receive the aid.
“LGUs will prepare the list of the target beneficiaries of the social amelioration measures and endorse this with the complete documentary requirements to the concerned DSWD FO for verification,” DSWD noted.
“A Social Amelioration Card (SAC) that captures the family profile will be distributed to the LGUs to enable the beneficiaries to access the assistance. It will also serve as a monitoring tool to avoid duplication of delivery of services,” it said.
After the entire Luzon was placed under a month-long quarantine, work except for frontline services like health workers and service crews was suspended. This affected several individuals, including those who rely heavily on daily wages.
As of Monday, health officials said that that there are now 1,546 patients infected with COVID-19, 78 of which have already died while at least 42 have recovered.
Around the world, over 524,000 COVID-19 cases have been recorded, while 23,592 patients have died, and another 111,100 patients have recovered.
DSWD said that it would use its list of cash transfer beneficiaries to counter check the list provided by LGUs.
Previously, DSWD showed that beneficiaries of cash grants for poor families continued even with the COVID-19 outbreak, with people receiving their subsidies through cash cards.
DSWD said before that cash grant programs would be temporarily suspended to promote social distancing, although they clarified that social aid programs would continue.