DOF: P10.1B cash aid given to 1.26M workers under SBWS program

A total of P10.1 billion worth of cash grants have been credited to 1.26 million workers so far under the government’s Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) program, the Department of Finance (DOF) said Friday.

Citing a report from the SBWS interagency task force, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said that the first tranche of cash subsidies has been credited to a total of 1,261,044 beneficiary employees, as of May 6.

The SBWS interagency task force is chaired by the DOF, represented by Assistant Secretary Antonio Lambino II, with Social Security System (SSS) President and CEO Aurora Ignacio, and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa as members.

The amount of P10.1 billion has been deposited to the employees’ bank or PayMaya accounts and sent to MLhuillier, for those who chose to receive the subsidy via money remittance, according to Dominguez.

The SBWS is part of the Duterte administration's efforts to provide relief to poor and low-middle-income families along with other vulnerable sectors hardest-hit by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 crisis.

The program covers around 3.4 million workers in the formal sector, employed by some 1.5 million businesses that are either forced to shut down or can only operate under skeleton force because of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine or other restrictions imposed in various parts of the country due to the health emergency.

Coming in two tranches, the government will provide a wage subsidy of P5,000 to P8,000 per eligible worker, based on the monthly regional minimum wage.

The first tranche of payout will be from May 1 to 15, 2020 while the second tranche will be from May 16 to 31, 2020.

The initial payouts, which represent the first tranche of the SBWS subsidies, began on April 30, one day ahead of the announced May 1 to 15 schedule of release.

“Approximately 183,677 more beneficiaries were expected to receive their cash subsidies by May 7,” Dominguez said.

The SSS has partnered with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to automate the payout of the subsidy, which has allowed the distribution to scale up in a short span of time, according to the Finance chief.

For her part, SSS chief Ignacio said more than 101,400 employers have submitted applications for the SBWS program, as of 7 a.m. of May 7.

The applications are all submitted electronically and are being processed by the SSS.

“So far, the applications for around 2.2 million employees have been approved according to program criteria,” she said.

“This represents around 65% of the program’s target of 3.4 million beneficiary employees,” she added.

Other ongoing efforts for small businesses include the following:

•     The extension of tax filing and payment deadlines
•     A 30-day grace period for the payment of all loans, including credit card payments and pawnshop loans, falling due within the ECQ period, without imposition of interest on interest or any additional charges, fees or penalties
•     A credit guarantee program to cover P120 billion-worth of loans to small businesses
•     Proposals to the Congress to provide stimulus to the economy.

—AOL, GMA News