Pangasinan town wants list of COVID-19 aid beneficiaries posted as safeguard vs bias

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Village officials in this capital town have been directed to post lists of beneficiaries of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) for transparency and to remove bias in distribution of aid for households who were removed from their sources of income by a Luzon-wide COVID-19 enhanced community quarantine.

Only 15,000 of this capital town’s 34,000 families are entitled to the financial assistance provided by the SAP of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Because of the limited number of recipients, “there is a need to ensure that the most qualified and deserving (families) will be the ones to benefit from the program,” said Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil.

In Dagupan City, Mayor Brian Lim set aside a P50 million fund for the city’s own version of SAP. The amount was approved as a supplemental budget and would be given in cash or in kind but with families who were not covered by the DSWD aid as beneficiaries.

Dagupan has 70,000 households but the DSWD allocated aid for 28,100.

Edited by TSB

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