Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Tuesday welcomed the initiative of the Department of Social Welfare and Development to tap a new payout facility to hasten the distribution of the second tranche of the Social Amelioration Program.
The agency's National Capital Region-Local Government Unit coordinator Ilene Lotino responded to Belmonte's clarification about the delay in the payout to many of the SAP beneficiaries.
"Finally, the DSWD has coordinated with us for the longest time of making an appeal for a clarification. Many of the residents have been complaining to us. Most of them have lost their jobs, and that they have nothing to spend for their daily needs,” Belmonte said.
The DSWD said the payout was hampered by the lack of information, particularly the contact numbers of the beneficiaries.
“It was explained to us that (DSWD) has been experiencing the difficulty to give (the money) out because many of these beneficiaries do not have the complete information, such as their cell phone numbers,” Belmonte said.
The DSWD is suggesting a new payment facility to fast track the payout process.
Right now, the agency is also providing manual payout delivery services to recipients without contact numbers for wire transfers.
“They (DSWD) are fixing some details so they could at once implement (the payout) to be able the residents who have been promised to benefit from the SAP from the national government,” the city mayor said.
Once ironed out, the SAP payout could start in October.
Fe Macale, the city’s Social Services Development Department head, said that out of the city’s 337,584 SAP recipients, only 151,192 have received the second part of the national government’s P8,000 financial assistance.
As far as the 217,386 waitlisted residents ate concerned, 203,896 of them have already obtained the cash aid.