More than 115,000 employees of small businesses adversely affected by the work stoppage due to the coronavirus pandemic have received their cash grants under the Small Business Wage Subsidy program as of May 1, the Department of Finance said over the weekend.
Half of these beneficiaries received their salary subsidies on April 30, or ahead of the May 1-15 payout schedule for the first tranche of this government subsidy.
A joint program of the DoF, Social Security System and Bureau of Internal Revenue, the SBWS aims to provide a monthly wage subsidy of P5,000 to P8,000 each for two months to around 3.4 million eligible employees of small businesses.
The subsidy ranges from P5,000 to P8,000 per tranche for every beneficiary, depending on the minimum wage levels in their respective regions.
Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Lambino II said the SSS, through its partnership with the Development Bank of the Philippines, has released wage subsidies for a total of 115,782 employees of small businesses. as of May 1.