The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) assured the public on Tuesday (November 26) that the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) and other forms of social protection services remain accessible for people in need.

Director Edwin Morata, assistant director of the DSWD’s Program Management Bureau (PMB) and Officer-In-Charge (OIC) of the Crisis Intervention Unit, said the provision of cash assistance under the AICS will continue in the Central Office, Satellite Offices and across the 16 regional field offices of the agency.

“We just want to make it clear that the DSWD will still provide up to Php10,000 cash aid to our AICS clients. This won’t be interrupted by the suspension of our Guarantee Letters (GL) at all,” Director Morata pointed out.

More than 6.5 million Filipinos facing difficult circumstances were provided by the DSWD with aid amounting to Php40.9 billion through the AICS program from January to December 2023.

The amount of assistance released under the AICS program in 2023 represented a 98.5% utilization of the fund worth over P41.5 million.

The number of clients served under the AICS in 2023 is more than four times the program’s annual total target of 1,691,869 beneficiaries.

“We would like to clarify that the temporary halt in the issuance of GLs does not mean that we can no longer provide assistance to our kababayans who are dealing with crisis and difficult situations,” Director Morato said.

Director Morata stressed that the DSWD’s Central and Field Offices will continue to facilitate requests for other types of assistance under the AICS program, such as medical, burial, funeral, food and transportation in the form of outright cash.

The DSWD earlier announced that the issuance of GL will be temporarily suspended after December 13 this year and is set to resume early January next year.

As explained by Director Morata, the suspension is just temporary and undertaken to make way for the agency’s annual liquidation process and complete the payments to service providers who have already assisted beneficiaries.

“The main reason we raised this as early as we can is because we seek to inform our citizens of and make informed decisions on how they can possibly make amends with these adjustments,” the DSWD official said.

Director Morata said the regular clients of AICS have been informed in advance to help them cope with the temporary changes, particularly those using GLs for their maintenance medicine.

On the average, a GL can help agency clients purchase maintenance medicines good for three-months intake.

The agency made necessary coordination to strategically make use of this time frame and minimize the impact of suspension to regular clients, according to Director Morata.

Director Morata said the agency is committed to wrap up the year-end auditing as soon as possible and alleviate the worries of the public.

“Rest assured that to the best of our ability, we will strive to wrap up, as soon as possible, our liquidation process and resume with the issuance and processing of guarantee letters,” the DSWD official said. # (LSJ)

Tagalog Version

Mga kliyente ng AICS program, tuloy-tuloy na makakakuha ng cash aid ayon sa DSWD

Tiniyak ng Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) sa publiko ang tuloy-tuloy na pagbibigay serbisyo ng Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) at iba pang social protection services ng ahensya para sa lahat ng nangangailangan.

Ayon kay Director Edwin Morata, assistant director ng DSWD Program Management Bureau (PMB) at Officer-In-Charge (OIC) ng Crisis Intervention, ang mga probisyon ng cash assistance sa ilalim ng programa ng AICS ay magpapatuloy sa Central Office, Satellite Offices at sa 16 regional field offices ng DSWD.

“We just want to make it clear that the DSWD will still provide up to Php10,000 cash aid to our AICS clients. This won’t be interrupted by the suspension of our Guarantee Letters (GL) at all,”sabi ni Director Morata.

Mahigit sa 6.5 million mamamayang Pilipino, na humaharap sa hirap ng buhay ang nabibigyan ng tulong ng ahensya sa pamamagitan ng programa ng AICS. Umabot naman sa kabuuang halagang Php40.9 billion ang naipamahagi ng nasabing programa simula January hanggang December 2023.

Ang halagang nabanggit ay nagre-represent sa 98.5% utilization ng pondo na may kabuuang halaga na higit Php41.5 million.

Umabot naman sa higit apat na beses na katumbas ng annual total target of beneficiaries na 1,691,869 ang nabigyan ng tulong ng AICS para sa 2023.

“We would like to clarify that the temporary halt in the issuance of GLs does not mean that we can no longer provide assistance to our kababayans who are dealing with crisis and difficult situations,” sabi pa ni Director Morata.

Binigyang diin ni Director Morata na magpapatuloy ang pagaayos ng mga requests at iba pang uri ng assistance sa DSWD Central at Field Offices sa ilalim ng AICS program, kabilang na dito ang medical, burial, funeral, food at transportation. Outright cash ang ibibigay dito na hindi hihigit sa Php10,000.

Nauna rito, inanunsyo kamakailan ng DSWD ang pansamantalang pagpapatigil ng pag-isyu ng Guarantee Letter (GL) mula December 14 upang bigyang daan ang annual liquidation process at pagbabayad sa mga service providers ng ahensya. Muling ibabalik ang pag-isyu ng GL sa Enero ng susunod na taon.

“The main reason we raised this as early as we can is because we seek to inform our citizens of and make informed decisions on how they can possibly make amends with these adjustments,” sabi pa ng DSWD official.

Sabi pa ni Director Morata, agad nilang sinabihan ang mga regular clients ng AICS upang maabisuhan ito sa mga pagbabago partikular na ang mga kliyente na gumagamit ng GL para sa pambili ng kanilang maintenance medicine.

“Rest assured that to the best of our ability, we will strive to wrap as soon as possible our liquidation process and resume with the issuance and processing of guarantee letters,” sabi pa ng DSWD official.# (MVC)