The family Department announced today, Friday, that the Family Socioeconomic Development Administration (Adsef) received authorization from the United States Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to advance the payment of the benefits of the Nutrition Assistance Program (PAN) due to the loss of food of the beneficiaries due to the general blackout recorded last Wednesday night.
Carmen Ana Gonzalez Magazinesecretary of the Department of the Family, indicated, through written statements, that beneficiaries whose social security numbers end between 0 and 3 have already received their benefits, while those ending in 4 and 5 will receive them next Sunday. Meanwhile, those ending in 6 and 7 will receive them on Monday and, finally, those ending in 8 and 9 will receive them on Tuesday, April 12.
“At the governor’s request, from early in the morning, Adsef requested authorization from the FNS to advance these benefits, taking into account the situation that has affected countless families in Puerto Rico. Thanks to the speed with which said request was processed, the FNS approved our request, which will allow the issuance of these benefits in advance”, the official highlighted.
For his part, the administrator of Adsef, Alberto Fraderaassured that “Although the appointments scheduled for April 7 and 8 were cancelled, they will be rescheduled for the coming weeks, without affecting the benefits of PAN participants.”.
Meanwhile, the governor Peter Pierluisi He maintained that “I appreciate the agility with which the Secretary and the administrator of ADSEF acted to achieve this advance of the benefits of the PAN. In the face of the emergency due to lack of energy, we seek to assist our people in these moments of crisis and we will continue to make other efforts to mitigate the damage to those most affected.”
A fire in the switch area of the Costa Sur power plant in Guayanilla activated the protection system of Puerto Rico’s fragile power grid. This, in turn, caused an island-wide blackout and, for now, hundreds of thousands of subscribers remain whose power service has not been restored.