Families of distressed OFWs qualified for Social Amelioration Program by DSWD

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD reiterated Sunday that families of Overseas Filipinos (OFs) in distress are among the target beneficiaries of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP).

In a press release, DSWD said under the department’s Omnibus Guidelines in the Implementation of the Social Amelioration Program, Overseas Filipinos are considered vulnerable members of the community and are among the most affected by the enhanced community quarantine.

They are those who were repatriated, or who have no income or remittance from Overseas Filipinos due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, or those who were banned from traveling outside the Philippines or stranded herein on account of the Covid-19 outbreak, thereby, preventing their capacity to work abroad, from January until the lifting of the community quarantine.

Families with OFs who have no other source of income since January until the lifting of the community quarantine will qualify under the SAP.

DSWD said that qualified OFW families may get in touch with their barangay officials, who should validate the “no work, no pay” status of the OFWs in their respective localities.

But the DSWD said that the barangay also needs to consider if the applying OFW family already availed of other subsidy programs, like the ones offered by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

DSWD, DILG and the LGUs continue to work closely to deliver SAP to low income families who are most affected by the enhanced community quarantine.