The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-6) temporarily stopped its online registration for educational cash assistance.
The suspension, which started on Sept. 7, was due to the high number of applicants, which have so far reached 591,744.
This, according to DSWD-6 information officer Atty. May Rago-Castillo, will to give the agency enough time to evaluate and process the applications of those who registered first.
Of the total applicants, 43,820 were cross-matched and 47,924 more will be up for cross-matching to avoid duplication of assistance.
A total of 12,065 of the cross-matched were served and 6,936 were found belonging to 4Ps households.
According to Castillo, 24,819 applicants are lined up for assessment and payout but subject to the availability of the fund.
As of Sept. 3, the DSWD-6 has released P76.561 million of the P91 million allocated by the central office for Western Visayas.
Iloilo province, including Iloilo City, has the highest number of beneficiaries served with 9, 135; followed by Negros Occidental, including Bacolod City with 5, 335; Capiz with 3, 762; Aklan with 3, 679; Antique with 3, 237; and Guimaras with 2, 132.
Castillo said the remaining fund of almost P15 million will be disbursed until Sept. 24.
Under the DSWD educational cash assistance program, a qualified elementary pupil is entitled to P1,000, while a high school student will get P2,000. A senior high school student is entitled to PP3,000 and a college or vocational student gets P4,000. Only up to three children per family are entitled to financial aid.IMT
