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The Department of Social Worker and Development (DSWD) under the Bayanihan We Heal as One Act or the RA 11469 will be giving 5k to 8k financial assistance to low-income families.

It will be under emergency subsidy allocated to 18 million families due to the COVID 19 crisis which forces people to stay at home and leave their jobs.

The government has allocated a total of PHP210 Billion to assist the families financially. The DSWD financial assistance will be given for two months to enable people to buy their basic necessities like food, toiletries, and medicine. 5k-8k assistance depends on the minimum wage per region.

Subsidy per region that the beneficiaries can get:

The Social Amelioration Program of the DSWD also provides non-cash subsidy as well as livelihood programs for workers who lost their jobs.

Under the Joint JOINT MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 1, SERIES OF 2020 which contains special guidelines on the provision of Social Amelioration Measures by the different departments of the government, the target beneficiaries are the vulnerable sectors.

Who are the vulnerable sectors of the community?

Under the Joint Memorandum of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in cooperation with other departments such as but not limited to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the target beneficiaries include the following:

1.) Senior Citizens
2.) Persons with Disability
3.) Pregnant and Lactating Women
4.) Solo Parents
5.) Overseas Filipinos Workers who no longer have work because they were repatriated or banned from traveling outside of the Philippines because of COVID-19 crisis
6.) Indigenous People
7.) Homeless Citizens and Underprivileged Sectors are those who live below the poverty line or those without a house to live
8.) Informal Economy Workers

• Occasional Workers (e.g. labandera)
• Subcontracted Workers (e.g. pakyaw workers)
• Homeworkers (e.g. workers in family business such as crafts making, food processing, etc.);
• Househelpers – who are not currently earning or cannot work because of the ECQ (e.g. kasambahay, family driver)
• Pedicab, UVs, Tricycle, PUJs, Taxi, PUBs, Transport Network Vehicle Service (TNVS) and Transport Network Companies (TNC) drivers (also includes Grab, Angkas, Joyride riders and such)
• micro-business and Sari-sari Store owners, and other similar business with asset less than Php10,000
• Small Family Business Owners (e.g. vegetable or fruit vendors, streets vendors, RTW, carinderia, etc.)
• Sub Minimum Wage Earners  (e.g. helpers in carinderia, sari-sari store)
• Farm workers and Fisherfolks (e.g. magsasaka, mangingisda etc)
• “no work, no pay” employees
• Stranded workers (e.g. construction workers stranded in their respective construction site/s).

How to avail of the 5k to 8k financial assistance of the DSWD?

• The DSWD will give the Social Amelioration Card (SAC) forms to the Local Government Unit. The LGU will then print out the SAC form and distribute it to their respective areas.

• The head of the family will fill out the SAC forms. Two forms will be given by the authorized personnel of the government. It should be printed in Capital letters. Make sure to fill it out correctly and completely.

• Return one copy to the person who will collect it while keeping the other copy for your reference.

• The SAC form will be a monitoring tool for the government to see who needs immediate assistance.

The SAC form cannot be downloaded or photocopy by anyone. Only the authorized personnel can distribute it.

According to the recent news, 4ps beneficiaries will not be given SAC forms since the money for assistance were already sent to their ATM cards. If you have any queries, you can contact the DSWD with this number 8-951-2803.