Mayor Chan seeks additional social amelioration cards

LAPU-LAPU City- Lapu-Lapu City mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan has requested the national government to give an additional allocation of the social amelioration card (SAC) for Oponganons.

Chan said that based on their monitoring, around 155,000 households in the city needs assistance from the government, after being affected with the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Earlier, Chan said only 68,000 households will benefit the social amelioration program (SAP) in the city, wherein 6,000 are members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), 11,000 from the Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT), and 3,000 social pensioners.

The remaining 48,000 are the beneficiaries that the city needs to identify, through the barangay.

“Pait gyud kaayo. Galisod! Ang ato ganing actual nga natagaan (ug bugas) is 155,000, how much more, how you can distribute this 48,000. So, ang ako lang is magpasabot lang gyud ko sa mga tawo kinsa may mo-qualify ani,” Chan said.

Beneficiaries of the SAP in Central Visayas are supposed to receive P6,000 financial assistance per month, from April to May.

Chan admitted that he already received several complaints in the distribution of SAC in the barangay.

But with the limited number of SAC allocated in the city, Chan said that he already expected this to happen.

“Isumbong sa akoa or sa atoang hotline kung kinsa to ang mga natagaan nga dili qualified. Isumbong usab sa atong hotline kinsa to’ng qualified nga wa mataga-i. Para atong mahatag ngadto sa atong social worker, para mosuroy ngadto pagbalik, ma-assess, ma-evaluate kung angayan ba gyud siyang tagaan,” he added.

Aside from the limited allocation of SAC, Chan said that barangay officials are also careful in identifying beneficiaries who are qualified for the program./rcg