The City of Butuan has officially completed its distribution of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) financial subsidy to a total of 14,456 left-out/waitlisted beneficiaries which started last July 29, 2020 conducted through an offsite payout methodology and a special house-to-house payout strategy in one of its barangays.

The highly urbanized city was supposed to conclude its payout last August 5, 2020, but due to the aggravating threat of COVID-19 to the locality in which Barangay Buhangin had to be placed under “granular lockdown” because of the sudden rise of cases in the said barangay, the conduct of the offsite SAP payout had to be deferred in that particular area. With this, a series of coordination meetings were conducted between the DSWD and the concerned local government units to strategize the appropriate mode of payout to utilize.

As a result, a house-to-house payout was specially employed in Barangay Buhangin to warrant the safety of the residents and the Special Disbursing Officers who wore Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) upon distribution which took place on Saturday, August 8, 2020.

“Thanks to the hard work of our LGUs and DSWD field officers, we are happy to report that the City of Butuan has successfully completed the distribution of the SAP financial subsidy to its waitlisted beneficiaries. Without the utmost cooperation of our partners and the beneficiaries themselves, we would not have achieved this goal. We have ensured that health protocols were strictly adhered during the conduct of the distribution and so we hope that our beneficiaries will continue to practice the same vigilance as they expend the financial subsidy that they received,” DILG Caraga Regional Director Lilibeth A. Famacion, CESO III said.

By DMO IV Ramil A. Daygo