Duterte wants 23M poor families in second wave of cash aid

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte wants all 23 million low-income families affected by the coronavirus quarantine to receive the second tranche of government cash subsidies.

Palace spokesman Harry Roque said the President directed Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado to look for more funds to ensure that the poor families under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and general community quarantine (GCQ) will receive aid under the second wave of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP).

“Angu naniyang sinabi saakin, Secretary Wendel Avisado[ of] DBM, ang ginamit po niyang salita,‘tuliin,’ tuliin nang mabuti ‘yung mga budget ng mga line agencies At ang gusto talaga ni Presidente, paramalaman kung ano ‘yung mga pondo na pupuwede marealign. bagamat pinag-aaralan pa, ay mabigyan ngayudalahatng 23 million whether be it GCQ or ECQ (The President instructed me to tell Secretary Wendel Avisado of the Department of Budget and Management to scrutinize the budget of line agencies and identify funds that can be realigned. He really wants all 23 million poor families to receive financial aid from the government whether be it GCQ or ECQ),” he said in a radio interview Friday.

Duterte earlier approved the inclusion of 5 million more families in the first tranche of the financial aid program to help them tide over the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

This is on top of the 18 million families entitled to financial aid under the P200billion budget in the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act.

Under the SAP, low-income households will receive between P5,000 and P8,000 for the months of April and May.

On Thursday, Malacañang said only 13 million out of 23 million poor families qualified for the second wave of financial assistance because of limited funds.

Roque said Duterte would also ask Congress for a supplemental budget for the SAP.

He added that the President mentioned selling government assets to raise funds for the financial assistance program. Duterte identified one such asset, but Roque said he cannot reveal it.

The government has resorted to handing out cash dole-outs as a way of propping up people who lost their jobs following the Covid-19 lockdown. But sourcing funds became a problem after the quarantine was extended several times.