Govt prepares financial aid to beneficiaries in ECQ zones

NDIVIDUALS residing in areas that are currently under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) may finally be getting cash aid from the government.

IOnthursday,presidentialspokesman Harry Roque said the P1 billion funding for the said initiative will come from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) under its Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS).

“The President approved the distribution of a P1,000 aid to those who are in need in areas under ECQ ,” Roque said.

He noted each family could have a maximum of four members, who may avail of the cash aid.

The funding for the program, which is expected to benefit at least a million individuals, is already being downloaded in Iloilo City and Iloilo Province, Cagayan de Oro City and Gingoog City, which are all currently under ECQ an alarming rise in Covid-19 cases in the last two weeks.

The ECQ classifications in the said areas, which should have ended this month, was extended until August 15, 2021 by the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

The cash aid is part of the national government’s commitment that seeks to provide aid for people in areas, which will be placed under the strictest community quarantine classification.

Lockdown consideration

ROQUE noted that the funding for the program were among the considerations of the IATF when it decided not to escalate the community quarantine classification of the National Capital Region (NCR) from general community quarantine (GCQ) “with heightened restrictions” to ECQ next month.

“The issue is: Do we have financial aid? Because we know if we lockdown Metro Manila, many people will become hungry because 60 percent of our GDP [gross domestic product] come from Metro Manila and the other plus 8 areas,” Roque said.

The so-called plus 8 areas include Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Batangas, Rizal, Bulacan, Metro Davao, and Metro Cebu.

The other considerations for implementing an ECQ include the impact of the lockdown to struggling businesses, health-care utilization, average daily attack rate, and twoweek attack rate among others.

Some business groups and the mayors of NCR announced they are ready for the implementation of a preemptive lockdown in the region as long as the national government can provide financial aid to the affected communities.

This was based on the recommendation of the independent OCTA research group for the implementation of a two-week ECQ in NCR to contain the spread of the Delta variant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) detected in the region.

“We still don’t know if we have the financial assistance for another extensive lockdown. But probably if we will need [the funding], we will look for it,” Roque said.

Currently, the Department of Health has yet to recommend a stricter community quarantine restriction in NCR due to its still high health-care capacity, as well as low daily attack rate.