Pasig to fill gap left by gov’t aid

Pasig City is stepping in to fill the gap left by the national government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP), which left thousands of families uncovered and dozens of local governments wondering who among the neediest of their residents to prioritize.

The city originally requested funding for 206,000 families from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the agency in charge of administering the aid package, but was given enough for less than half of that, or just 93,000 families.

“This is still a big help,” Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto said in a live broadcast on his Facebook page on Sunday. “But we are going to have some problems if only 93,000 families receive aid.”

He said this was why the city was rolling out PSSAP, or the Pasig Supplemental SAP.

“All families in need who are not on the DSWD list will be covered by the local government,” Sotto said. “Over the holidays, we studied the budget and cash position of the city so we know how much we can distribute.”

But he was careful to note that the city still did not have enough funds to directly match the amount being provided by the DSWD—P16,000 per family—meant to cover two months. At the moment, he said the city could likely provide only P8,000 per family.

This amount, however, could still change, Sotto added.

The basis of the DSWD list was the 2015 census, although the figures were likely to have changed significantly over the last five years. Pasig was set to conduct its own census this year, a project derailed by the onslaught of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.Sotto said that even the number first proposed by Pasig—206,000—was likely an undercount, as it was also based on the 2015 census. As many as 260,000 families could be in need, he pointed out.

The top policymaking body in Metro Manila last week asked the DSWD and the Department of Finance to restore the original number of beneficiaries under the P200-billion aid program through Metro Manila Council (MMC) Resolution No. 2020-07.

The MMC includes all 17 mayors in the capital, who all saw drastic cuts to their original lists.

Metro Manila, the region most severely hit by COVID-19, has reeled from both unprecedented health and economic crises since the start of a Luzon-wide lockdown. INQ