The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) announced that it has projected to finish the first round of distribution of the cash relief assistance to beneficiaries of the public transportation sector on 20 May.

Social Welfare Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said that they have already cleaned up the lists of individuals that will receive the assistance, particularly for drivers and riders under Transport Network Companies (TNCs).

Throughout its entire distribution process, issues concerning Transport Network Vehicle Service (TNVS) drivers and motorcycle (MC) taxi riders were uncovered as many individuals complained of not being able to claim the P5,000 for not being included in the lists.

Department Secretary Rex Gatchalian had referred to these people as “tempo” drivers, or individuals that work under TNCs without proper legal franchises under the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

On 27 April, the DSWD together with the LTFRB and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) conducted an activity to finalize and clean the list of PUV drivers to ensure that all individuals are assisted.

With the verified list in hand, Dumlao said that there are around 800 to 900 thousand drivers nationwide that have yet to receive assistance.

She noted that around P6 billion pesos has already been disbursed through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) that had set aside P30 billion of its funding for the program.

Distribution of the assistance is set to start back up by next week for all drivers within and outside the National Capital Region (NCR).