By Jennifer P. Rendon
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a health issue. Then there’s SAP.
SAP stands for Social Amelioration Program or SAP, a cash-based emergency subsidy program (ESP) for 18 million Filipino families whose lives were affected by the enhanced community quarantine against the spread of COVID-19.
Instead of answering the economic quandaries of affected families, more questions were raised at the implementation of SAP.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 6 said it received 2,964 calls and text messages via its hotline numbers as of 12 noon Wednesday.
The SAP hotline numbers – 09989481970, 09060253974, and 09060253891 – are open for calls and text on a 24/7 basis since April 14.
Rayner Jude Lobaton, DSWD-6 focal person for Technical Assistance and Resource Augmentation, said most of the calls are inquiries on SAP guidelines and queries on who are qualified and ineligible for the program, among other complaints.
More than 80 percent of the queries, or 2,377, were resolved.
Other complaints and inquiries were forwarded to other offices while others are being validated by the respective local Social Welfare and Development Offices.
“This is proof nga kita sa DSWD open gid ang linya nga magsabat sa mga palamangkutanon ninyo,” Lobaton said.
He also called on the public’s cooperation to stop the proliferation of fake news and misinformation about the subsidy program.
“We ask everyone to refrain from sharing information coming from unverified sources,” Lobaton said, as he called on the public not to make their own personal interpretation of the guidelines.
He also encouraged those who have queries to refer to the DSWD Western Visayas Facebook page, “as answers to your questions would be on the page.”
Meanwhile, DSWD regional director Ma. Evelyn Macapobre addressed claims that not all calls are being attended to.
“Meron kasi akong nababasa na tumatawag daw sa office pero walang sumasagot. Twenty-four hours merong nakabantay po sa aming hotline,” she said.
But Macapobre said some of their lines may not be operational for 24 hours.
“Some of our employees adopt a work-from-home scheme while others opted to work 10 hours a day four times a week,” she said.
Macapobre said the scheme aims to lessen their exposure during travels.
Some of the employees have to be fetched at certain points because of the unavailability of public transport service.
