“Limitado gyud ang budget, dili kita ang naghawid, dili nato gunit ang kaning budget kundi sa taas kung pila lang ihatag nila matag-field offices (We only have limited budget, we are not the one who have the final say how much will be allocated for each field offices),” Michelle Franca, Information Officer of DSWD-Davao, said in an interview with Davao City Disaster Radio on September 9, 2022.
Franca said the budget cap is one of the main reasons why they have suspended the acceptance of applications.
“Ana gani mi nga ang rason namo sa pag-close sa drop box kay naa na sa 150,000 ang applicants and lahi-lahi og rates matag-studyante, matag pamilya pa gyud posible modawat atong maximum of three [beneficiaries] (One of the reasons why we closed the drop box submission is because of the influx of applicants that have reached 150,000 and they have different rates per students, and per family could have possibly availed of the maximum three beneficiaries),” Franca said.
However, Franca said the educational assistance under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) program is not the only program that could grant cash aid to the students.
“Daghan pa’g programa (we have a lot of programs), labi na ang Local Government Units (LGUs), ang CSWDO (City Social Welfare and Development Office) (especially the LGUs and CSWDO),” Franca said.
Franca said they will still consolidate all applications that they have received and request augmentation of the budget to accommodate the applicants.
“Buhatan nato na og report and atoa gyud nang i-lobby sa taas or sa Central Office (We will create a report and we’ll lobby this to the Central Office) for additional budget and we’ve been doing that from the very start,” Franca said.
Meanwhile, as of 3 p.m., on September 10, 2022, DSWD reported that they have disbursed another P10,387,000 to 4,668 students region-wide.
Following the data provided by the DSWD, roughly P64.5 million has been disbursed since August 20. During the first payout DSWD had disbursed P8,113,000 (August 23), and P27,050,00 disbursed cash aid on September 3. (KSD)