BACOLOD CITY – An elderly woman in Barangay Villamonte here, who was too excited to get the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) allowance for her grandchildren, died while waiting for her cash aid on Thursday.
Barangay Chairman Rommel Flores said on Saturday that Aurelia Magbanua, 87, of Purok Sabes went to the gymnasium, along with her daughter past 10 a.m. to get her P6,000 SAP allowance, when she felt ill while sitting on the chair.
She was transferred to another seat but she fainted and was rushed to a hospital, where she died few minutes later initially due to lack of oxygen, according to her daughter, Flores said.
Flores said that Magbanua was advised by her daughter to go to the venue in the afternoon, but she insisted to do it in the morning because she was too excited to get her cash aid, which she would supposedly share with her grandchildren.
She was among the 4,386 beneficiaries in the village included in the second tranche of the SAP distribution given by the national government for the poorest of the poor affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Although the venue was covered, Flores said that it was hot inside the gymnasium because of the influx of persons waiting for SAP cash distribution.
He said that those SAP beneficiaries who have difficulty to go to the gymnasium will be subjected to the onsite visitation to receive their cash assistance.
Last May, the same incident happened in Barangay Tangub when an elderly man also collapsed and died from cardiac arrest while waiting in line during the SAP cash distribution. (Glazyl Masculino)