Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 29) — The government so far paid out ₱46.5 billion to beneficiaries under the second tranche of the cash aid for the poor hit by the pandemic, according to the Social Welfare department.
Speaking to CNN Philippines on Wednesday, Social Welfare Spokesperson Irene Dumlao said, “Base po sa 8 p.m report ng aming ahensiya kahapon, meron po tayong naipamahagi mahigit P46.5 billion sa mahigit 6.9 million beneficiaries ng social amelioration program.”
[Translation: Based on the 8 p.m. report of the agency Tuesday, we have distributed more than P46.5 billion to more than 6.9 million beneficiaries of the social amelioration program.]
Dumlao said among the beneficiaries are households under the conditional cash transfer program, low-income families, and waitlisted or additional families.
She said the government targets to complete digital and manual payouts by the end of July, but the period might extend for those in remote areas.
“For areas that are geographically isolated and disadvantaged, yun pong mga lugar na remote at wala po tayong mga partner payout centers, yung mga financial service providers, nakikita po natin na baka makumpleto itong mga payouts sa mga lugar na ito by the middle of August,” she said.
[Translation: For areas that are geographically isolated and disadvantaged, areas that are remote and we have no partner payout centers, financial service providers, we see the completion of payouts in these areas by the middle of August.]
The target number of beneficiaries for the second aid tranche is 8.5 million families in areas under enhanced community quarantine.
“In addition to that, mayroon tayong [we have] additional families na five million, and of couse, 3.5 million of that are from the identified ECQ areas,” Dumlao said.
However, she said these numbers may still be trimmed as there are some found ineligible or are duplicates.
