By Jennifer P. Rendon and John Noel E. Herrera
Bad news for the more than 500,000 applicants for the government’s student assistance.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region-6 announced Wednesday evening that it will not push through with the two remaining payouts on Sept 17 and 24.
“Inasmuch as we wanted to serve more clients, our funds are already depleted,” according to Atty. May Rago-Castillo, DSWD regional information officer.
Castillo said they asked for more funds from the DSWD Central Office, but they have yet to receive any feedback.
“That’s why, we are asking for your understanding on this matter,” Castillo said.
But she said their office could still provide services under other programs.
For the last four payouts, the agency has already exhausted the intended P91 million for the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program for student assistance.
The agency has disbursed P101.326 million for 36,131 beneficiaries.
It benefited 8,311 elementary who received P1,000 each; 6,799 junior high school students who received P2,000 each; 4,667 senior high school students who received P3,000; and 16,354 college and vocational courses students who got P4,000 each.
When the DSWD-6 stopped accepting online registration on Sept 7, there were 591,744 clients who managed to apply.
The data indicated that 43,820 applicants were already crossed match with the DSWD database to ensure that they are not beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) apart from weeding out double registrations, and if they have already been paid in previous payouts.
DSWD-6 also said that 16,000 applicants were supposed to be assessed and scheduled for the Sept 17 payout.
“We still have 555,613 pending applications,” Castillo earlier said.
As earlier stated by DSWD Secretary Erwin Tulfo, the agency might only cater to around 400,000 students under the AICS program.
As to how many can be accommodated for the remaining two payouts, Castillo said a meeting is still being done to discuss the concerns.
Iloilo, to include Iloilo City, has the most number of beneficiaries that were catered at 11,686 (P35.198 million) while Negros Occidental, to include Bacolod City, tailed with 10,256 (P28.942 million).
On the other hand, there were 4,186 beneficiaries from Capiz (P11.015 million); Antique with 3,809 (P10.57 million); Aklan with 3,965 (P10.317 million); and Guimaras with 2,229 million (P5.284 million).
