MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang’s 14th report to Congress on the government’s coronavirus response revealed that as of Monday, June 29, almost 300,000 families have yet to receive their promised cash aid for April.

This clashes with what Social Welfare Undersecretary Danilo Pamonag claimed in a June 25 press conference – that the first tranche was “complete.”

The Palace report says that the number of “estimated beneficiaries” for the first tranche was still being adjusted as it discounts those who were found to be disqualified from the program. The 11th Palace report said the same thing.

However, the current number of estimated beneficiaries for the first tranche is only around 10,000 less than the original number of beneficiaries (17.9 million families) indicated in the omnibus guidelines for social amelioration.

The 300,000 families do not yet include the 3.5 million waitlisted families from enhanced community quarantine areas who were added to the program. They are also due to receive two waves of cash aid.

Another 1.5 million families from general community quarantine areas are also waitlisted for the program, but they will only receive one subsidy.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development announced that the payments for the waitlisted families are ongoing, with P52 million distributed to 9,391 waitlisted beneficiaries as of Tuesday from the Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos Region, and Central Luzon.

The number of families served for the first tranche has been hovering around 96% to 98% since May 24. (TRACKER: DSWD assistance during coronavirus crisis)

The second tranche, meant for May, only began on June 11 with 1.3 million Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries. 

View the full report here:

– Rappler.com