TACLOBAN CITY – The provincial government of Eastern Samar has approved a PHP60-million budget for financial assistance to families excluded in the national government’s social amelioration program (SAP).
Around 30,000 families will receive the PHP2,000 cash, said Governor Ben Evardone, in a statement on Wednesday. The target date for the distribution has yet to be announced.
“This initiative was agreed by the provincial inter-agency task force against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic which other cities in Luzon are also doing,” he added.
The budget also includes the PHP2,000 cash incentive for village health workers, nutrition scholars, and watchmen (barangay tanod).
Among the national government agencies that extended cash aid through SAP are the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Agriculture (DA), and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Based on the DSWD report, a total of 59,940 families in Eastern Samar have received the PHP5,000 emergency cash subsidy.
Evardone said also excluded in the PHP2,000 cash assistance are the beneficiaries of DOLE’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating (livelihood assistance for) disadvantage/displaced workers, DA’s expanded survival and recovery assistance program, and the DSWD’s conditional cash transfer program, who were initial recipients of the emergency cash subsidy.
Meanwhile, Eastern Samar remains free of the highly contagious Covid-19, according to the Department of Health.
The province will remain under general community quarantine until May 31, along with other areas in the country with a low transmission rate of the disease.
Since the outbreak, a total of 26 cases have been confirmed in Eastern Visayas, the lowest in the Visayas region, and the fourth-lowest in the country. (PNA)
