DSWD releases over P141M in ‘ayuda’ distribution for indigent students

(FILE) THE CENTRAL COULD NOT HOLD According to a DSWD spokesperson, about 5,000 people—some of them shown here—trooped to the agency’s main office at Barangay Batasan Hills in Quezon City to apply for the educational cash assistance on Saturday. —LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has released a total of P141 million in cash assistance for indigent students ahead of the opening of classes, as of August 21.

This was revealed by DSWD Undersecretary Jerico Javier in a Facebook post, showing that the DSWD has so far disbursed P141,049,500 in educational aid as of 2:30 a.m., Sunday.

This translated to a total of 48,033 beneficiaries.

The region with the highest number of cash assistance disbursed was Western Visayas with a total of P20,760,000 disbursed aid, given to 5,144 recipients; followed by the Ilocos Region with P20,422,000 for 5,715 beneficiaries; then Calabarzon with P14,292,000 for 5,019 beneficiaries.

On the other hand, Caraga region registered the fewest beneficiaries with only 216 individuals provided with a total of P719,000 educational assistance.

This marked the first weekend of the DSWD’s distribution of P500 million cash assistance to indigent students to help them pay for education-related expenses.

However, DSWD failed to anticipate huge crowds flocking to its central and regional offices, and resulted in a stampede in Zamboanga — where 29 individuals were injured. DSWD Sec. Erwin Tulfo, for his part, blamed the mess on miscommunication.

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/MUF