Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 17) — Officers, health and day care workers in the barangay can now avail of the government’s cash assistance amid the coronavirus disease pandemic, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said Friday.
The agency said it has coordinated with the Interior Department to add the barangay workers to the Social Amelioration Program since they earn below minimum wage.
“The so-called heavy-lifting job for the immediate response to the pandemic has been delegated to [barangay health workers] and Tanods as the frontliners in all community,” a memo signed by DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista stated. “It is but just to give them reasonable leeway to be [entitled] in the programs of the government.”
The factors considered in including beneficiaries to the program are: if the person belongs to the poor or informal sector, if the person is at risk of not earning a living during the quarantine period and if the person is among the vulnerable sector, such as sub-minimum wage earners.
Beneficiaries of the cash aid program receive up to ₱8,000 from April to May for their daily needs.
The department earlier said it will only validate recipients only after the aid has been dispensed, to fast-track distribution.
As for those who are not included in the list of beneficiaries, the agency appealed to mayors to pull from their own funds to provide for them.
