Caloocan City is showing how innovation, effective systems can deliver the city’s Anti-COVID-19 program.
The local government of Caloocan is ahead in the distribution of financial assistance from the national government.
As of April 12, 2021, at least 105,048 families in Caloocan have already received their cash assistance barely a week since the local government started its payout.
Other cities in the National Capital Region also posted their accomplishments on the same day, Manila with 100,002 families, Navotas with 23,774 families, while Valenzuela, Navotas, Malabon and Makati have no information posted on their official pages as of writing.
The Caloocan LGU attributed the fast distribution of “ayuda” to the University of Caloocan City students. They were tapped as paymasters and the use of technology developed by USSC, one of the country’s pioneering money remittance agencies.
“Mayor Oca Malapitan instructed us to give the cash assistance to our residents as soon as possible that’s why we took advantage of modern technology with the help of our partner money remittance center and use the talent and skill of our city students by hiring them,” Roberto Quizon of CCSWD explained.
Caloocan uses a system of cash caravans in each barangay, based on a schedule circulated beforehand. Beneficiaries get a text message informing them of the specific time, date, and venue for them to claim their “ayuda.” Beneficiaries are allowed in the venue only during the time slot assigned to them.
Once inside the venue, beneficiaries can go to any of the ten paymasters, who are equipped with a tablet. The paymaster checks the beneficiary’s record, verify his or her identity, takes a photo of the beneficiary, and gives the appropriate cash aid. The beneficiaries must imprint their digital signatures on the tablet as proof that they have received their cash assistance.
The typical time it takes to process the pay-out is just under 3 minutes.
An estimated 368,925 families in Caloocan are entitled to receive the cash aid according to the masterlist provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Quizon said Caloocan LGU targets to finish the distribution on or before the 15-day deadline set by the national government.
