THE distribution of financial aid and guarantee letters for medical and funeral aid under the government’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) program remains suspended but will resume within two weeks, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) yesterday said.
DSWD assistant secretary and spokesman Romel Lopez said they are still waiting for the release and downloading of the budget for the program for 2023.
“As soon as maayos po natin iyong pondo po natin, ma-download po natin iyong pondo po natin ngayon pong 2023, inaasahan po natin na within a week or two, baka po maximum na po iyan, baka nga po within the week ay mai-download na po ito — agaran po nating iri-resume po, agaran po nating ibabalik ito pong pamamahagi ng ating mga cash assistance na kinakailangan ng ating kababayan (As soon as we are able to fix our funds, download our funds for 2023, we expect it within a week or two, that’s the maximum, we may even be able download it within the week, we will immediately resume the distribution of cash assistance that our countrymen need),” Lopez said.
Lopez said DSWD can accept and process the request for assistance under AICS for now, and even issue guarantee letters to hospitals or funeral companies for the medical and burial needs of beneficiaries, but they still need to wait for the actual cash fund to be released before they can use such letters.
“Uulitin ko po, suspendido po muna iyong pamamahagi natin ng outright cash assistance sa ilalim ng AICS dahil nga po hinihintay pa po nating maisaayos po iyong pondo po natin ngayong taon na ito. Ito naman po ay usually nangyayari po talaga sa pagbubukas po ng taon dito po sa DSWD (I will repeat, the distribution of outright cash assistance under AICS is suspended because we are still waiting for funds for this year. This usually happens to DSWD at the start of every year),” he added.
