The local government unit of Sadanga, Mountain Province has returned P1.47 million excess fund for the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) downloaded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development as emergency cash assistance for low-income families during the enhanced community quarantine.
During the meeting of the Cordillera Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and the Regional Interagency Task Group for Covid-19 on May 6, DSWD Cordillera Director Leo Quintilla reported that Sadanga returned P1,474,000 undisbursed funds since there are no more families in the municipality that are qualified to receive the assistance under the guidelines.
The DSWD regional office downloaded funds for 1,400 target family beneficiaries. However, there were only 1,132 qualified beneficiaries provided with the cash assistance during the payout.
Quintilla said Sadanga is the first LGU from those that have already completed their payout in the region that returned the unused SAP funds.
The other LGUs set to refund undisbursed amounts are Barlig and Besao in Mountain Province; Bucloc and Daguioman in Abra; Tanudan and Tinglayan in Kalinga; and Ma-yoyao in Ifugao.
Sadanga is also the only LGU in the Cordillera that waived the family food packs that the DSWD provided to municipalities due to the Covid-19 crisis in favor of the more needy areas.
Quintilla reported that as of May 6, SAP payout in the region reached 91.11 percent with 270,850 out of the 297,289 target family beneficiaries having received their cash assistance. Total disbursement is P1.41 billion.
Sixty-seven out of 75 municipalities and two cities in the region already accomplished a 100 percent SAP payout.
Baguio City waived some of its SAP funds after downgrading its target family beneficiaries from 50,237 to 45,000.
Quintilla said the SAP payout in Cordillera is the third highest accomplishment among regions in the country. – Carlito C. Dar
