MANILA, Philippines — Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea has ordered the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to include 5 million more families in the government’s second tranche of cash aid under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP).
Medialdea, in a memorandum released to the media on Saturday, added that beneficiaries living in areas under a general community quarantine (GCQ) may still be considered to be given the cash aid.
In the memorandum, Medialdia ordered members of the IATF-EID to include the additional 5 million eligible households to the 12 million beneficiaries under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“While it is only natural that most beneficiaries would come from still living in Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) areas, as stricter of community quarantine deprive more people means of support, household beneficiaries most affected by the continuing restrictions in the operation of certain industries and sectors in areas under a General Community Quarantine may still be considered in the Second Tranche,” the memorandum further read.
Previously, the government said that only ECQ areas and those under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) will be given cash aid.
The DSWD, in coordination with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), was also ordered to expedite the creation of an online portal to contain the list of eligible beneficiaries.
The online portal, as ordered by the memorandum, should have the following data:
- beneficiaries’ barangay, municipality/city, and region
- the amounts they received
- and the specific program under which they received government assistance
“The online portal must include a mechanism to receive feedback from the public to assist the government in assessing its performance in delivering the assistance, determining whether an investigation against specific persons is necessary, and identifying persons and areas that were not covered,” the memorandum read.