Emma Patalinghug, chief of promotive services division of DSWD-7 said on Tuesday that the qualified sari-sari store owners affected by the new price cap would receive cash assistance on Friday, September 29. | Screengrab from Openline News Forum
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Qualified sari-sari store owners in Central Visayas will receive their government subsidy on Friday, September 29.
Officials from the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas (DSWD-7) confirmed that the second target beneficiaries of the cash assistance will kick off on Friday.
However, as of press time, the DSWD is waiting for the final list of the beneficiaries as well as the venue to be provided by the Department of Trade and Industry in Central Visayas (DTI-7).
DTI-7 Regional Director Maria Elena Arbon confirmed to CDN Digital that the DTI was still finalizing the list today, September 26, and once finished, they will submit them to the DSWD for final vetting.
These qualified sari-sari store owners would receive the P15,000 government subsidy.
The DSWD clarified that the sole agency, who could provide the eligibility and qualifications of the sari-sari store owners beneficiaries, was the DTI.
READ: DTI-7 to focus on monitoring price cap on rice
Qualified beneficiaries
In previous reports, the DTI said the qualified beneficiaries are those, who registered with the business permits and licensing office (BPLO), registered as sole proprietors with the DTI, unregistered price retailers, validated by market administrators, and those verified by the DTI.
Another qualification for store owners is they must also have a barangay registration and participate in the nano-retailer program supported financially by the local government.
The first targets of the cash assistance were the micro rice retailers and the first payout was done simultaneously on September 14.
Meanwhile, the second distribution of the cash subsidy took place on September 22, Friday.
To recall, the DSWD, through its Sustainable Livelihood Program-Economic Relief Subsidy (SLP-ERS), would provide cash assistance to the affected small scale rice retailers and sari-sari store owners due to the mandated price ceiling on regular and well-milled rice.
READ: Rice retailer: P15,000 subsidy may not be enough to some vendors
Unclaimed subsidy
Emma Patalinghug, chief of promotive services division of DSWD-7, said that they target 325 micro rice retailers in Region 7 as validated by the Department of Trade and Industry in Central Visayas (DTI-7).
Of the number, only 310 beneficiaries were able to receive their P15,000 cash aid, therefore, a total of P4,650,000 was disbursed by the DSWD-7.
They also encouraged those 15 micro rice retailers who had not claimed their subsidy to get their P15,000 today and tomorrow, September 26-27, at the DSWD offices in Bohol, Cebu, Negros, and Siquijor.
They could not give to the other qualified rice retailers because they were not present during the payout. DWSD said the unclaimed money will be returned to the national treasury.
“Kay ato naman na siyang pa resibuhan kay atoang special disbursing officers, kinahanglan naman pod nila e-liquidate and maong amount nga atoang e-disburse,” she said.
(Because we have yet to issue a receipt because our special disbursing officers, they also need to liquidate that amount that will be disbursed.)
READ: Inflation-proofing Filipinos, one ‘sari-sari’ store at a time
Monitoring activities
Moreover, the DSWD-7 officials said in previous reports that they would conduct monitoring and evaluation after the distribution of the cash assistance to help them identify if the subsidy was enough to the affected rice retailers.
Ma. Rosana Coritico, regional program coordinator of DSWD-7 said that the results of the monitoring and evaluation for the first payout is not available as of now.
Coritico said the monitoring activities take place from 30 to 90 days.
“Wala pa gyud mi nakapangutana sa pagkakaron (sa rice retailers) but during the profiling, part of the question there is kung nakaencounter ba sila og loss during the period nga na impose ang EO 39. Naa gyuy niingon nga mga beneficiaries nga nakaencounter gyud sila mga losses,” she said.
(We have not asked for now (the rice retailers) but during the profiling, part of the question there is if they had encountered loss during that period that EO39 was imposed. There are really beneficiaries who really said that they encountered losses.)
The DSWD is also waiting for the next batch of the beneficiaries of the SLP-ERS.
The cash assistance is given to the rice retailers affected by the Executive Order 39 of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. which imposed the price cap of regular-milled rice at P41 per kilo and the well-milled rice at P45 per kilo. / with reports from Inquirer.net /dbs