SEVEN out of 10 Filipinos said they received cash aid from the government while most provinces in the country were placed under strict enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) when local transmission of the conoravirus disease (COVID-19) started to peak.
A mobile phone survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from July 3 to 6 quoted 72 percent of 1,555 adult Filipinos saying that their families received money/help from the government, while 28 percent said they did not receive any financial assistance from the government.
The survey had a sampling margin of error of ±2 percent.
The SWS found that more people in Metro Manila, or 85 percent, received a form of cash aid. Next to get cash subsidies were those from Luzon (75 percent), Mindanao (65 percent), and the Visayas (64 percent).
More people from Mindanao and the Visayas (46 percent each) said they did not receive any money, followed by those from Luzon (25 percent) and Metro Manila (15 percent).
An equal number of people from the urban area and rural areas, or 72 percent, said they received money/help from the government, while more women (75 percent) said their families received cash aid from the government as against men (67 percent).
The survey firm also found out that more people belonging to the age group of 45 to 54 years old (77 percent) and 35 to 44 years old (76 percent) received cash aids, followed by those belonging to 25 to 34 age group (73 percent), 18 to 24 (70 percent) and 55 and above (62 percent).
SWS likewise found that more respondents who had some vocational education received cash aid (77 percent), followed by those who graduated from elementary and reached some junior high school education (75 percent), non-elementary graduates and those with some college level education (71 percent each), and those who graduated from college (58 percent).
The government had provided to people who have been adversely affected by the strict stay-at-home rules, majority of whom were low income families or those who had lost their jobs during the pandemic, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Finance- Social Security System, among others.
The first tranche of the DSWD’s Special Amelioration Program (SAP) was distributed in April, while payout for the second tranche is still ongoing.
The DSWD announced in Twitter that as of July 27, it had already distributed P39.6 billion worth of cash subsidy that benefitted 6.085 million low income families, Patawid Pamilyang Pilipino program (4Ps) beneficiaries, first tranche waitlisted families, and drivers of public utility vehicles.
DSWD undersecretary Glen Paje, during the Laging Handa public briefing, said despite of the digital payout system intended to expedite the distribution of the second tranche, only 4.3 million low income families of the targeted more than 17 million families had enrolled through the ReliefAgad application.
Paje said DSWD still had to rely on the liquidation report and encoded list submitted by local government units (LGUs), of which only 1,591 of 1,634 have already completed their liquidation and encoded reports.
Paje appealed to the public for more understanding and patience as the DSWD strives to complete the distribution of the second tranche within July.
