The Social Amelioration Program that is offered by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has been the most talked about topic in the country. Households and families were debating and waiting whether or not they will receive the subsidy. Luckily for Pasig City, Mayor Vico Sotto said that they'll be providing financial aid to those not listed in the emergency list of the DSWD.
Before we get to that, do you know what the subsidy is from the national government? If not, let us first discuss the amelioration program being offered by the DSWD.
DSWD Social Amelioration Program
Several community debates about the social amelioration program offered by the DSWD sparked up a lot of intense communication in several barangays, provinces, cities, and municipalities. The P200 billion budget allotted for this as well as other funding for it, was unfortunately not enough to cover the poorest of the poor.
With this, the former Rizal municipality said that there will be a Pasig City subsidy to the families that were not included in the list of beneficiaries provided and submitted by the DSWD. Take note, it's not just a matter of tens or hundreds of families; and in Pasig City alone, there are almost and more than 100,000 families not part of the beneficiaries.
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Pasig City subsidy
As per the Pasig City government, their program will cover and subsidize about 100,000 poor families that are in need of subsidy; these are the families that have not been included in the national government's list of beneficiaries of the DSWD cash assistance.
This was due to the fact that the Department of Finance (DoF) and the DSWD only approved about 93,000 families out of the 206,000 families or households in the city. In addition to that, the Pasig City Mayor said that the 93,000 that have been approved will receive P8K for two (2) months; totaling P16K or the package presented by the DSWD.
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For the Pasig City subsidy, however, Mayor Vico Sotto said that although they promise to give the poor some funds, he and his government cannot promise to provide P8K for two (2) months. However, they will work to get and find more funds for the realignment of it.
Lahat po ng nangangailangan na wala po sa listahan ng DSWD, sasaluhin po ng lokal na pamahalaan ng Pasig. Hindi po natin kaya ‘yung buong halaga na P8,000 for 2 months or 16,000, hindi po natin kaya yung ganung kalaking halaga pero gagawin natin ang lahat nang makakaya at naghahanap po tayo ng pondo para makapag-realign po tayo."
As per Mayor Sotto, the City Council of Pasig City would be meeting any time this week to discuss the subsidy that they would be providing to their people.
The DSWD Subsidy as Big Help to Pasigeños
The Pasig City Mayor said that this already is a big help for them. However, they could not forget the families that weren't listed in the list by the National Government.
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We are very thankful for that. Napakalaking tulong na rin po noon para sa amin pero hindi natin pwedeng kalimutan din ‘yung ibang pamilya na hindi sakop nitong 93,000 [families] mula sa SAP."
In Translation: We're very thankful for that. This is already beg help to us but we can't actually disregard families that are not covered by the SAP subsidy.
P1.5 billion fund
As per the Mayor Vico Sotto, they are eyeing on a P1.5 billion fund for the Pasig City subsidy. This will be sourced from the unfinished projects of the city like infrastructure projects.
We identified around P1.5 billion that we can use as cash assistance for this SAP program."
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As of today, there are a total of 120+ confirmed cases of the COVID-19 in Pasig City. So technically, the cash assistance that would be given by Pasig City would be helpful and beneficial to the current situation.
To help ease this situation, Mayor Vico Sotto said that they will be conducting relevant COVID-19 tests that would be around 50 to 60 test per day; this is more than the 20 tests per day that they are currently having. The testing would be done in certain locations and with the assistance of The Medical City (TMC).
What do you think about the P1.5 billion Pasig City subsidy that Mayor Vico Sotto promised to provide the families in the city that are not included in the list of the national government?
Source/s: The Philippine Daily Inquirer
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