The city government will begin distributing the PHP6,000 social amelioration fund on Friday, starting with 453 qualified beneficiaries in two villages.

In a phone interview, Teresa Gelogo, in charge of the field and program operations of the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), said they would release the assistance to 376 households in Barangay Punong, Lapuz and 77 qualified families in Barangay Magsaysay, City Proper.

Iloilo City has 79,215 family beneficiaries.

The cashier in charge of the collection will go to the barangays. The qualified recipients will be informed of the schedule by their barangay officials to avoid a crowd at the venue.

“We have to practice social distancing,” Gelogo said.

The recipients were told to bring a copy of their social amelioration card and a photocopy of their identification cards with three specimen signatures.

If they do not have an ID, they have to secure a certification from their barangay and affix three specimen signatures.

She added that the two barangays were the first to submit their “clean list” of recipients out of the city’s 180 barangays. The clean list refers to the final list of beneficiaries.

The district head of the CSWDO and a staff of the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) validate the names of SAP beneficiaries to make sure that members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) are not in the list submitted by barangays.

Gelogo urged other barangays to submit their initial list of validated beneficiaries so they can process the payroll for the amelioration fund.

“We continue to process the payroll and we hope to release all before the last week of April,” she told the Philippine News Agency (PNA), adding that the CSWDO would continue with the processing even on Saturdays and Sundays to fast-track the release.

Once it is done, they will have the fund liquidated so the amelioration fund for May would also be released.

On Monday, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), in a letter addressed to Mayor Jerry P. Treñas, informed him of the transfer of PHP475,290,000 for the target beneficiaries.

Treñas said the amelioration program would be a big help as it will be good for two months.

In a press conference on Wednesday, he said the number is lower than the first target that was submitted by the DSWD of about 86,000 family beneficiaries.

He said the city government will find a way to help those not on the new list. (PNA)