Only the household beneficiaries in Pangasinan will receive the second tranche of the social amelioration program (SAP) among the provinces in the entire Ilocos Region, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) confirmed on Wednesday.

In a forum, DSWD regional director Marcelo Nicomedes Castillo said based on the guidelines, only Pangasinan qualified for the second tranche since the province was among those areas that remained under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) until May 15, while the other provinces of La Union, Ilocos Norte, and Ilocos Sur were removed from ECQ and placed under general community quarantine since May 1.

Castillo, however, clarified that the total 433,429 household beneficiaries in the province might be lessened depending on the result of the extensive validation the DSWD is currently conducting.

“If upon validation, the beneficiaries will be proven not qualified, then they will be removed from the list who will receive the second tranche,” he said.

Each qualified household beneficiary in Pangasinan will again receive PHP5,500.

The schedule of the release of the second tranche is still to be announced.

In the entire Ilocos Region, a total of 777,375 SAP household beneficiaries received the first tranche of the emergency cash subsidy amounting to a total of PHP4.275 billion, but only 110 local government units (LGUs) have fully completed distribution.

“The other 15 LGUs have not fully completed distribution because the allocation for them exceeded the number of qualified beneficiaries in their area,” Castillo said.

He added that LGUs are now in the liquidation process of the SAP funds.

“We thank the LGUs including the barangay officials, the staff, among others because amidst the hardships they were able to finish the distribution,” he said.

Meanwhile, some 57,841 households will also receive emergency cash subsidies as additional SAP beneficiaries, or formerly called the ‘waitlisted’.

“These are qualified beneficiaries who were not included in the list of SAP beneficiaries. The lists of names were submitted by their respective LGUs, but these are still for validation,” Castillo said.

He said the LGUs have submitted a total of 59,963 names, more than the allocated number of additional beneficiaries in the region, hence the validation will filter and possibly reduce the number.

LGUs in Ilocos Norte submitted 1,693 additional beneficiaries, Ilocos Sur with 5,031, La Union with 3,663, and Pangasinan with 49,576.

Castillo said they are still waiting for the criteria and specific guidelines for the release of the subsidy to the additional beneficiaries. (PNA)

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