THE Department of Finance (DOF) on Sunday said it has released P16.4 billion in subsidies to at least 2.1 million beneficiary-workers under the Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) program as of May 12.
The DOF said the first tranche of the two-month wage subsidy package has been credited to the accounts of the more than 2.1 million beneficiaries, under the program jointly implemented by the DOF, Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Social Security System (SSS).
The SBWS was designed to support qualified workers who have not been able to receive their salaries for the past two months due to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and other containment measures imposed by the national and local governments since mid-March to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The subsidies are equivalent to P5,000 to P8,000 per qualified worker, depending on the minimum wage level in his or her region, and are either credited to the beneficiaries’ bank or PayMaya accounts or sent through cash remittance via MLhuillier financial services.
Aurora Ignacio, SSS president and chief executive officer, said almost 160,000 employers applied for the program as the applications ended on May 8.
“The SSS is currently processing them, but so far, the applications for around 2.94 million employees have been approved according to program criteria. This represents around 86 percent of the program’s target of 3.4 million small business employees,” Ignacio said in the DOF statement.
Payouts for the first tranche of the SBWS subsidies began on April 30, one day ahead of the announced May 1 to 15 schedule of release. Payouts for the second tranche are scheduled for May 16 to 31.
SAP
The Department of Social Welfare and Development and local government units have distributed at least P95 billion worth of emergency cash subsidy under the Social Amelioration Program to 16.9 million poor families nationwide.
The DSWD said P95.93 billion composed of P17.433 billion distributed to Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino (4Ps) beneficiaries and P78.497 billion given to low-income, non-4Ps families have been given to the SAP beneficiaries as of 8 p.m. of May 16.
He said the amount benefited 4.009 million 4Ps beneficiaries and 12.957 non-4Ps low-income families.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, over the weekend, said the guidelines on the May payout are expected to come out soon.
Roque reiterated the second tranche or May payout of the SAP would be given only to poor families living in the areas covered by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) namely Cebu City and Mandaue City; and the modified enhanced community quarantine which covers Metro Manila, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Zambales, Laguna, and Angeles City.
The second tranche would also cover some five million low-income families that had been left out in the April payout, which will include low income families living in general community quarantine (GCQ) areas.
Roque said ideally, the President wants to provide subsidy to everyone affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown, but due to the limited funds, the second tranche would be for the low income families living in the ECQ and MECQ areas as well as the five million families who were left out in the first tranche.
BAYANIHAN ACT
Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Sunday said it is best to let the Supreme Court decide whether low-income families in areas where quarantine restrictions have been eased should still receive the second tranche of the cash subsidy/
Lacson said the Bayanihan Act was created to provide cash assistance for two months to 18 million poor households affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
“The Bayanihan Act gave President Duterte the authority to realign funds. But also under the Bayanihan Act, the government is obliged to give them cash assistance of P5,000 to P8,000… But if the families are already able to work, maybe it can be possible that the cash aid be stopped, depending on the interpretation of law and only the Supreme Court can interpret whether it is right or wrong to stop the cash subsidy in areas where families are already working,” Lacson told radio dzBB.
“What was the intention of the law? If its intention was to offset your lost earnings in two months, then you should be given two months (cash assistance) even if the lockdown is already lifted and you have started to work again. It is because you borrowed money for two months. Does it follow that you will not get the cash aid because you started working again on the third month?,” he said.
Lacson said Congress may approve a supplemental budget aimed at giving cash assistance to the additional five million families who were not included in the first tranche. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Raymond Africa
