Navotas families to get P3,000 aid

MANILA, Philippines — The local government of Navotas will provide additional P3,000 ayuda or cash assistance to indigent families under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP).

In a statement yesterday, Mayor Toby Tiangco said 4,820 families would receive cash aid from city hall.

Tiangco lamented that at least 2,900 beneficiaries received only P5,000 from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The rest of the families will receive cash assistance in advance.

The DSWD failed to provide the full SAP assistance for families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Tiangco.

“We learned that these beneficiaries got only P5,000, not P8,000 as originally intended for the SAP second tranche,” he said.

“Our people have been waiting for almost two years now for financial assistance. It is not their fault that the SAP distribution of the DSWD failed. They should not be the ones bearing the brunt of someone else’s blunder,” Tiangco added.

The mayor said he has written to the DSWD Metro Manila office about the 5,000 names excluded from the list of SAP beneficiaries.