Residents from Barangay Batasan Hills in Quezon City line up to receive cash under the social amelioration program amid the enhanced community quarantine on May 4, 2020. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News
MANILA (UPDATE) - A total of 1,265 local government units met the deadline for the distribution of the first tranche of the emergency subsidies for the coronavirus crisis, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Monday.
The deadline, which was extended twice, ended on Sunday with 90.86 percent of the 18 million target beneficiaries able to receive the initial tranche of cash aid, the DILG said.
The DILG hailed 5 "top-performing" regions over the distribution of financial assistance with high payout rates, namely CARAGA (100 percent), Bicol Region (99.96 percent), SOCCSKSARGEN (98.92 percent), the Cordillera Administrative Region (96.8 percent), and Zamboanga Peninsula (96.47 percent).
“Performance speaks a lot on your leadership... How you served in the time of COVID-19 crisis will be remembered by the people whom you pledged to serve,” Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said in a statement Monday.
Of the 1,265 LGUs that have completed the payout, the DILG said 70 are in CAR; 120 in Ilocos Region; 59 in Cagayan Valley; 107 in Central Luzon; 71 in the Southern Tagalog Region (Calabarzon); 69 in the Southwestern Tagalog Region (MIMAROPA); and 112 in Bicol Region.
In Western Visayas, 129 LGUs completed the payout; 88 in Central Visayas; and 126 in Eastern Visayas.
In Mindanao, 72 LGUs in the Zamboanga Peninsula completed the payout; 88 in Northern Mindanao; 36 in Davao Region; 45 in SOCCSKSARGEN; and 73 in CARAGA.
The LGUs that weren't able to meet the deadline for the distribution of cash aid should still dispense funds unless the Department of Social Welfare and Development recalls the money, Año said.
The government initially allotted P200 billion to give the poorest families P5,000 to P8,000 each for 2 months. The program will be expanded to cover 5 million more families.
cash aid, SAP, social amelioration program, DSWD, DILG, LGU, emergency subsidy, ayuda, COVID-19, coronavirus pandemic