The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) hopes to complete by the end of June 2017 the distribution of P5,000 financial assistance to survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda in Regions VI, VII, VIII, and the Negros Island Region (NIR) who have not received Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) from the government.

DSWD Undersecretary for the Operations and Programs Group–Protective Programs, Hope Hervilla, said that as of April 18, the Department has validated 75 percent or 147,027 of the 196,258 total target beneficiaries for the financial assistance, which is funded by the Socio-Civic Fund of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

“Nasa validation stage pa din tayo sa ibang rehiyon. Pagkatapos nito ay maisasapinal natin ang bilang ng mga karapat-dapat na benipisyaryo na bibigyan ng cash card na kanilang gagamitin sa pag-claim ng tulong pinansyal (We are still in the validation stage in other regions. But after this, we will be able to finalize the total number of eligible households who will be given a cash card, which they will use to claim the financial assistance),” Usec. Hervilla explained.

“Nag-iingat tayo sa validation upang matiyak na ang mga karapat-dapat lamang ang makatatanggap ng tulong na ito (We are very careful with the validation to ensure that only those who are qualified will be able to receive the assistance),” she added.

DSWD-Field Offices (FOs) in Region VII and NIR have finished validating the 368 and 7,713 target household-beneficiaries, respectively. FO VI has validated 87 percent or 110, 252 of the total 126,261 target households in Western Visayas, while FO VIII has finished checking 46 percent or 28,649 of the total 61,916 target beneficiaries in Eastern Visayas.

Out of the 147,027 validated households, 55 percent or 81, 520 have been qualified to receive the assistance. NIR had the most number of eligible households at 68 percent of the total target beneficiaries in the region, followed by FO VIII at 57 percent, Region VI at 54 percent, and Region VII at 29 percent.

The DSWD has already started the distribution of the P5,000 financial assistance to qualified household-beneficiaries as early as March.

On March 1, the Department has released a total of P1,055,000 for some 211 qualified households in Tacloban City. The cash distribution was held at Leyte Pantawid Provincial Office.

Likewise, on April 7, a total of 93 out of the 107 total eligible household-beneficiaries in Region VII received the financial aid during a cash distribution event facilitated by DSWD-FO VII in Cebu City. The remaining 14 qualified beneficiaries were able to claim the assistance from the Field Office on April 10-14.

The DSWD has forwarded the names of some 38,502 qualified beneficiaries to the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) for cash card opening. Of this number, 30,498 are from Region VI; 5,219 from NIR; and 2,785 from Region VIII.

The expected release of the cash card will be 30 days after the submission of the names of the beneficiaries to the LBP.

“Humihingi tayo sa ating mga kababayan sa Visayas ng kaunti pang pasensya sa pag-aantay. Sa tulong ng iba’t-ibang People’s Organizations at ng ating mga Local Government Units, ginagawa natin ang lahat upang mapabilis ang validation ng mga beneficiaries nang sa gayon ay maipamahagi na ang tulong pinansyal na nararapat sa kanila (We are asking for more patience from our fellow citizens in the Visayas. With the help of different People’s Organizations and Local Government Units, we are doing our best to speed up the validation of the beneficiaries so we can distribute the government assistance due them),” Usec. Hervilla ended.