MARIVELES, Bataan — Mariveles town families who did not qualify in the Emergency Subsidy Program-Social Amelioration Program (ESP-SAP) of Department of Social Welfare and Development each received PhP1,500 cash aid from the municipal government.
Mayor Jocelyn Castañeda said most of her constituents are not qualified since most of them are working in the Freeport Area of Bataan (FAB), which is considered as a formal sector.
“Out of 17,742 of our target beneficiaries for ESP-SAP, only 14,518 qualified. Since we do not want residents to feel discriminated on why some received cash assistance while others did not, our municipal government with the help of our Sangguniang Bayan passed a resolution on financial assistance,” Castañeda disclosed during Wednesday’s episode of Laging Handa Public Briefing on People’s Television Network which was hosted by Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar.
The Financial Assistance from the Municipality of Mariveles (FAMM) was given to about 44,000 families with funding taken from the PhP66 million realigned budget
of the municipal government due to the COVID-19 health crisis.
FAMM beneficiaries already received the cash aid from their barangay in a manner similar to the ESP-SAP distribution.
“After the PhP1,500 cash assistance, we gave PhP500 worth of groceries to each family, which is about 58,000 food packs in total,” she added.
Castañeda also shared that they are currently distributing 56,279 sacks of rice wherein each family will receive 25 kilos, to continuously provide food assistance especially to poor households.
“We can assure that the rice subsidy is in good quality. And if we will receive complaints on substandard quality, we will immediately return it to the supplier for replacement,” she furthered.