BACOLOD CITY –– The distribution of cash aid under the government’s social amelioration program (SAP) here was suspended on Monday after a social worker was exposed to a patient with coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Pacita Tero, officer-in-charge of the Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD), said the social worker is the wife of a city government employee, who is among the 19 persons who recently tested positive for COVID-19.
The social worker, nine of her colleagues in the DSSD, and 10 from the Department of Social Welfare and Development underwent a swab test and were told to undergo a 14-day home quarantine pending the release of the results.
Tero said more than 75,000 have received the second tranche of the SAP cash aid before the distribution was suspended.
The second tranche of the SAP distribution, she said, would benefit 97,266 Bacolod residents.
The SAP aid, which was mandated under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, consists of two separate releases of P6,000 in May and July for qualified beneficiaries.