President Duterte approves in-kind aid to ECQ-affected communities
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte approved Monday night the Supplemental Amelioration Program giving P1,000 worth of food and non-food assistance per individual in areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), utilizing P23 billion government funds.
In his report to President Duterte during a meeting on government’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) interventions, Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado said the government assistance would be given to ECQ-affected individuals and families through the local government units (LGUs).
The
aid, to be extended in-kind to ECQ-affected communities, will be worth P1,000
for every person and will not exceed P4,000 for every family.
“So
wala po tayong cash po dito po. We will leave it to the local government units
dahil sila naman talaga ang first line of pinupuntahan ng mga tao na sila po
ang mag-allocate nito base po doon sa approval ninyo na at least 1,000 pesos
per person,” said Avisado.
According
to the budget chief, the assistance will cover 80 percent of the total affected
population with an estimated 11.2 million people in Metro Manila, 3 million in
Bulacan, 3.4 million in Cavite, 2.7 million in Laguna, and 2.6 million in
Rizal.
The
balance from certified sources of the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) will be utilized
in the Supplemental Amelioration Program, Avisado explained, saying that the
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and other involved agencies will
fast-track the processes to ensure speedy distribution of funds to the local
government units (LGUs).
Before
distributing the government aid, LGUs are required to submit the list of
beneficiaries. After completing the distribution, LGUs are then required to
submit to the Commission on Audit (COA) a report of disbursements and
utilization detailing how the funds were spent.
“Ang
mga LGUs talaga po ang kailangan kumilos dito at siguruhin nila na maibibigay
nila. Kung hindi, mananagot po talaga sila, ang mga mayors natin lalo pa dahil
sa kanila po nakasalalay ang madaliang pagbibigay ng ayuda sa kanilang mga
nasasakupan,” he explained.
President
Duterte placed areas in the National Capital Region Plus bubble, which includes
Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, under enhanced community
quarantine from March 29 to April 4 to curb the spike of COVID-19 infections.
The
Department of Health (DOH) has recorded 10, 016 new COVID-19 cases on Monday,
bringing the total number of infections in the country to 731,894 as of March
29 with 603,213 recoveries and 13,186 deaths. PND
