1.26-M workers get initial P10.1-B SBWS aid – DOF

MANILA, Philippines—As many as 1.26 million workers have been given the initial P10.1 billion cash aid under the government’s Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) program for poor and low to middle-income families amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“According to a report from the SBWS interagency task force, the first tranche of subsidies has been credited to a total of 1,261,044 beneficiary employees as of May 6,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Friday in a release.

The amount has been deposited to the employees’ bank or PayMaya accounts and sent to MLhuillier for those who chose to receive the subsidy via money remittance, according to Dominguez. MLhuillier Kwarta Padala, through the Development Bank of the Philippines, is the partner-remittance center of the SSS in the disbursement of wage subsidies to unbanked beneficiaries.

Under the SBWS program, a total of P50.8 billion has been allotted for around 3.4 million workers, who are each entitled to receive a monthly subsidy of P5,000 to P8,000 for two months.

“The SSS has partnered with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to automate the payout of the subsidy, which has allowed the distribution to scale up in a short span of time,” Dominguez said.

The SBWS interagency task force is chaired by the DOF, as represented by Assistant Secretary Antonio Lambino II, and with Social Security System (SSS) President and CEO Aurora Ignacio and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa as members.

Ignacio noted that as of 7:00 a.m. of May 7, more than 101,400 employers have applied for the program. Through these, around 2.2 million employees, 65% of the 3.4-million target, have been approved for the program. Application

The first tranche of wage subsidies began on April 30 and will be distributed until May 15, while the second tranche is scheduled for May 16 to 31.

The DOF earlier said that around 26.4 million Filipino families from the country’s most vulnerable sectors would be receiving aid from the government’s subsidy programs, which includes the SBWS program and the social amelioration program.