PLDT-Smart is providing free access for all Smart, TNT and SUN subscribers to the “ReliefAgad” app (www.reliefagad.ph) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) so that beneficiaries of the government’s social amelioration program can conveniently register and receive financial assistance electronically.

“ReliefAgad,” launched in May 14 by DSWD and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), is an app that facilitates automated cash aid distribution of the government’s social amelioration program (SAP) which aids families affected by the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The app was developed to address challenges in updating beneficiary data and information as well as to accelerate the distribution of disbursements to beneficiaries. The “ReliefAgad” app makes the cash relief distribution faster through e-wallets such as PayMaya, and may be accessed by families who have already received their social amelioration card (SAC).

DSWD partnered with USAID’s E-PESO Project and Developers Connect Philippines (DevCon) for the Relief Agad project wherein a segment of the beneficiaries may self-enroll through an online form, reducing the need to fill out and encode paper forms.

Alfredo S. Panlilio, Smart President and CEO and PLDT Chief Revenue Officer said that “we encourage qualified beneficiaries to register to ReliefAgad app and link their mobile numbers so they can receive their financial assistance faster via digital means.”

“This service is another addition to the collective bayanihan efforts of the PLDT group in assisting government agencies, NGOs, and the general public, in our efforts to control the spread of COVID-19,” according to Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups. “We are committed to assisting the DSWD in promoting electronic registrations to the Relief Agad app for more efficient distribution of the second tranche of cash relief through contactless transactions.”

Once they register, citizen beneficiaries can link their mobile numbers and choose their preferred means to receive their financial assistance. Options include eWallets such as PayMaya.

Last month, DSWD also tapped PayMaya as one of the featured payment methods in the ReliefAgad app. Beneficiaries of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) as well as the Assistance to Individuals in Conflict Situations (AICS) may choose to receive their cash aid through their respective PayMaya accounts.

Through the partnership, clients availing of AICS can easily encash their cash aid from any of the 30,000 Smart Padala branches nationwide through their PayMaya accounts. They may also use the funds in their accounts to pay for bills, groceries, or other daily essentials, purchase airtime load, or send money to other PayMaya users through the PayMaya app. ###