Metro Manila, Philippines – A motorcycle taxi rider died after collapsing while waiting to claim his P5,000 cash relief assistance at the Quezon City Memorial Circle on Saturday, April 18.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said it immediately coordinated with the hospital, the victim’s family, and his employer upon receiving the report.
The agency has deployed a team to assist the family and has provided support for hospital bills, funeral expenses, transportation, and the education of the victim’s daughter.
DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian personally visited the family at the hospital on Sunday morning.
Gatchalian explained that the long waiting time for beneficiaries was due to the manual validation and verification process.
“As mentioned, this round of payout is being done manually for validation and verification purposes. Given that the lists are coming from external sources like TNCs, DSWD needs to physically ascertain that the people listed are real individuals and legitimate drivers, and not ‘ghost drivers,’” said Gatchalian.
“For these sectors in ride-hailing apps, future payouts will be done digitally now that we have a validated and verified clean list,” he added.
