A beneficiary receives his share of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) subsidy. | File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines –Several formal economy workers in Barangay Lorega San Miguel in Cebu City lost their source of income since the city was placed under enhanced community quarantine on March 28.
Lorega Barangay Captain Fritzgerald Herrera said that these workers should also be made to qualify for cash assistance under the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP).
Herrera lamented that many of his constituents are now struggling financially after they were not given assistance by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
“From the viewpoint of the undersigned, some of these employed individuals deserve to be included in the DSWD SAP and this office is bombarded by incessant requests from this forsaken sector,” Herrera said in a May 11, 2020 letter which he sent to the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas (DSWD-7).
But DSWD-7 director Rebecca Geamal said that the Bayanihan Heal As One Act was very clear that formal sector workers, who are covered by other forms of government assistance, are disqualified from the SAP.
“We regret that we cannot grant your request since the formal economy workers are not covered under our guidelines,” said Geamala in her letter-response dated May 12, 2020.
Geamal said that the SAP is intended for low income and informal economy workers with members who belong to the vulnerable sector.
Herrera said that Lorega San Miguel was given an allocation for 1, 575 SAP beneficiaries at P6, 000 each. However, they were only able to release aid to 830 individuals whom DSWD listed as qualified for the assistance.
He would have wanted the remaining allocation given to 745 formal sector workers in his barangay.
With the money still unspent, Hernandez said they continue to wait for DSWD guidelines on what to do with it.
He also apologized to barangay residents who did not qualify for the SAP assistance.
At the same time, he appealed for the Department of Interior and Local Government and DOLE to review their programs for formal economy workers who are gravely affected by the ECQ. / dcb