Markus Castro
COTABATO CITY — To expedite the delivery of financial assistance to the severely affected victims of Severe Tropical Storm (STS) Paeng, the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) and Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines (AAIIBP) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the implementation of the Emergency Shelter Assistance Program on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, at the conference of MSSD Regional Office building, Bangsamoro Government Center, Cotabato City.
In the signing of MOA, MSSD was represented by its minister, Atty Raissa H. Jajurie, while AAIIBP was represented by its chief operating officer, Atty. Imelda Tarhata Macarambon.
The said agreement is part of MSSD’s Financial Assistance System Transformation (FAST), which prescribes guidelines on its adoption of a digital payment system that will fast-track the provision of assistance to the indigent beneficiaries of the ministry.
These guidelines were developed after the knowledge-sharing session and intensive follow-through discussions facilitated by FAST’s technical working group under the Finance Management Support Service Division of MSSD with national offices such as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas-Financial Inclusion Office (BSP-FIO), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas-Payment System Oversight Department (BSP-PSOD), Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and the Commission on Audit (COA).
“MSSD’s Disaster Response and Management Division (DRMD) will take charge of the implementation of the Emergency Shelter Assistance Program while the ministry’s Finance Management Support Service Division will implement FAST”, MSSD Finance Division Chief Hamodi Lao Tiboron said.
“Moving forward, there will be a possible partnership coverage expansion should the current one will succeed,” Tiboron added.
Present also during the MOA signing were key official officials from both parties such as Hasim Guiamil, MSSD’s Chief of DRMD, Atty. Jomaila Rangiris, AAIIBP’s Head of the Operations Sector, and Bai Sittie Kusain, AAIIBP’s Cotabato Branch Manager. (Jidday B. Lucman, Information Officer III of MSSD BARMM)
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