By J. Jala, Marisol Bo-oc and Helen Castaño | 04:03 PM April 16, 2020
Families who were not counted as beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Social Amelioration Program (SAP) will be covered by the Tagbilaran Supplemental SAP.
Tagbilaran City Mayor John Geesnell “Baba” Yap II on Thursday announced that the city government will provide a cash assistance of P4,000 to families who were not covered by the national government’s cash aid program .
There are at least 37,000 families in Tagbilaran City.
Although he didn’t know the exact number of SAP beneficiaries who would receive the P6,000 cash aid, he readied the cash subsidy as approved by the city council.
SAP forms are still given to barangays.
The DSWD set the number of beneficiaries for each of the local government units (LGUs). The target allocation was based on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) household census in 2015.
The DSWD 7 will validate the list and submit it to the central office for the final decision.
Aside from the national average, the number of household allocation also varies depending on the class of the LGU.
In Bohol Province, the general average of poor household population is 81 percent.
However, Yap clarified that the same guidelines of the DSWD SAP will be used to determine the qualified beneficiaries for the Tagbilaran SAP.
The social amelioration program under Republic Act 11469, or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, aims to mitigate the effects of Covid-19.
Yap said the budget for the Tagbilaran SAP was intended to build a building beside the city hall and for road repair.
He admitted that the local government will not be able to provide the same financial support from the national government but he assured that his office will exhaust all its sources to cater to the needs of the Tagbilaranons.
Under the Local Government Code, LGUs are tasked to provide basic social welfare services to its constituents. LGUs abide by such principle in identifying beneficiaries of the SAP.
