MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte – A couple who earn their living by making and selling candles in this city, returned their Social Amelioration Program cash subsidy on Thursday after they unexpectedly received P5,000 from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) through a money remittance service.
The woman and her husband, surnamed Didal, are living in a rented house in Asuncion village in the Poblacion. They earn their living by making and selling candles.
According to Alejandra Sandoval, Bgy. Asuncion Kagawad, the couple went to their office this morning, May 7, 2020, and returned their SAP aid telling the barangay officials that they have to return the cash aid after receiving a message from a money remittance center telling them to claim the money from DOLE amounting to P5,000.
“As far as I can remember, Mr. Didal went to the barangay to have their names listed for the social amelioration program saying that their income from making and selling candles was affected amid the coronavirus pandemic”, said Sandoval in a chat interview with CDN Digital.
The Kagawad related further that when the couple returned their SAP aid, they told barangay officials that at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, they went to DOLE to seek assistance but that they were not very optimistic about receiving aid.
But this morning they received a message from the money remittance company telling them to get their money from DOLE. At first, the couple said they were hesitant since they have already forgotten having asked assistance from the agency until they have gotten the P5,000 subsidy.
They then went to the barangay to return the P5,000 SAP aid which they received a week ago.
In Sandoval’s FB post, a netizen lauded the woman saying “She deserves praise. May her tribe increase!”
Last weekend a woman also returned the SAP aid of her common-law partner because she said she is already a 4Ps beneficiary. /rcg