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PROTECTING THE POOR. Members of low-income families in Barangay Pasong Tamo in Quezon City line up to receive P8,000 in aid of coronavirus. Photo by Darren Langit / Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte wants all low-income families who received the first tranche of coronavirus emergency subsidy to get the second tranche again, even if their areas were reduced to general community quarantine (GCQ).
This occurs after the government announced that only families in areas that are still under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) as of May 1 will receive the second tranche.
“He (Duterte) said, he is ordering DBM Secretary Wendel Avisado, quote, ‘study the line agencies’ budget allocations and verify what can be realigned’ because he wants the 23 million Filipinos (families) who received aid to receive Second leg, “Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Friday, May 15 in a DZRH radio interview.
Previously, the DBM had delivered some 200 billion P to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for financial aid to families, as the closure measures cut off their livelihoods.
The funding was supposed to cover only 18 million poor households, including 4.4 million 4P beneficiaries (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program). But the government decided to expand this to 5 million more families that are not included in the government’s lists, leading to a total of 23 million families to be covered by the aid.
These families are supposed to get from P5,000 to P8,000 (depending on the regional minimum wage in your area), every month from April to May.
The funds were supposed to be released in two tranches, one to cover April and the second for May. But since then, some areas of Luzon that were previously blocked have been downgraded to GCQ.
To cover even more poor families in the ECQ areas, the national government coronavirus task force decided to withdraw aid from families in the recently degraded areas.
Duterte’s own head of social welfare, Judy Taguiwalo, had asked the government to continue giving the second tranche to these families. She said these families still would not have recovered their livelihoods right after the ECQ was lifted.
Distribution status. As of May 10, the deadline for local government units to distribute the first tranche, the payment rate reached 97% or almost all, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
The department is ready to issue just cause orders to 43 mayors who were only able to distribute 79% or less of the financial aid allocated to them. – Rappler.com
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