Some 926 left-out family-beneficiaries from the municipalities of Hamtic and Tobias Fornier in Antique province have received their cash aid under the special amelioration program (SAP).

Mary Ann Masculino, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Western Visayas designated SAP coordinator, said that as of Thursday, the households on the clean list of beneficiaries from the two towns have already received their cash aid of PHP6,000 each.

“We piloted the SAP left-out in the towns of Hamtic and Tobias Fornier because these local government units (LGUs) were the first ones to finish encoding the names of their additional beneficiaries,” she said.

Tobias Fornier has 439 additional beneficiaries but 46 were found to be ineligible to receive the cash aid.

Those ineligible were delisted due to duplication, or a member of their family is working as a seafarer.

On the other hand, only 533 of the 536 additional beneficiaries in Hamtic were found to be eligible for the assistance. Two of those found disqualified are members of the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program, while one is because of duplication.

Duplication means that a member of the same family has already received a subsidy during the first tranche.

Masculino added that the remaining left-out beneficiaries are expected to receive their cash aid anytime this July. The province has 17,000 left-out beneficiaries.

The beneficiaries were displaced by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) but were excluded during the release of the first tranche of SAP in April.

“As of now, the DSWD is still working out for the financial business provider that would be the department’s conduit in releasing the assistance,” she said.

The financial business provider may be a bank where the money will be downloaded and will take charge of releasing aid to the beneficiaries.

The provision of emergency subsidy to the SAP left-out beneficiaries is mandated under Memorandum Circular Number 14, series 2020 issued by DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista last June 1, which is the Special Guidelines in the Implementation of the Emergency Subsidy Program of the DSWD for the Additional Beneficiaries. (PNA)