THE national government said funding for the proposed cash assistance or “ayuda” for some 11 million low-income residents of Metro Manila will come from unobligated savings and appropriations as well as excess revenues of various departments under the executive branch.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said these funds will be used to defray the P13-billion worth of cash assistance needed in view of the reimposition of another hard lockdown starting August 6.
“We will get the funds from all agencies of the government in accordance with Administrative Order 41 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte last May,” said Roque in a briefing.
Of the P13 billion allocation, only P11 billion would be used for distribution. The remaining P2 billion, he added, will serve as a “contingency fund” in case there will be additional beneficiaries.
“The P2 billion was just a provision for contingency,” he averred.
The beneficiaries were expected to receive P1,000 financial assistance each — or a maximum of P4,000 per household — during the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period from 6 to 20 August.
Roque’s announcement came a day after officials of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) discussed the possible sources of funds for the social amelioration program in the capital region.
Duterte has previously instructed the DBM and other concerned agencies to look for funds for financial assistance, saying the government should not impose a lockdown without cash aid for the poor.
The cash aid will be coursed through local government units and the DBM is looking for ways to ensure the swift distribution of funds among beneficiaries, said Tina Rose Maria Canda, the agency’s officer-in-charge.
Interestingly, the government has yet to find ways on how to farm out the cash aid in a region under the most stringent lockdown classification.
The imposition of ECQ was expected to increase the number of poor people by up to 177,000 and the unemployed by 444,000, according to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua.
About P105 billion will be lost to the economy for each week that Metro Manila will be under hard lockdown, he added.
Under the two-week ECQ, establishments deemed “non-essential” were barred from operating.
Only select industries were permitted to operate during the lockdown, including those involved in the delivery of food, health, and other basic services.
The government was hesitant in imposing stricter curbs in the metro, especially since it accounts for 40 percent of the country’s GDP.
However, the recent increase in coronavirus infections alarmed health experts and the private sector, prompting the government to revert to ECQ.
COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila increased by 65 percent compared with last week amid the emergence of the highly infectious Delta variant, according to experts monitoring pandemic figures.
During the two-week ECQ, the government seeks to boost its COVID-19 testing, isolation, tracing, and treatment efforts, as well as the state’s inoculation drive.
The local chief executives in the metro were eyeing to vaccinate at least 250,000 individuals a day in the region despite the lockdown.
Over 9.11 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 11.74 million individuals were waiting for their second doses.
So far, the Philippines has confirmed 1,612,541 million coronavirus infections, in which 63,137 cases remain active.