BULACAN TOWNS TO DISTRIBUTE NONCASH AID; ECQ SUBSIDY ‘INSUFFICIENT’

STA. MARIA, BULACAN—The P1,000 assistance for residents of Bulacan province locked at home for the duration of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is not enough, prompting municipalities here to resort to noncash assistance or allot funds from local coffers to ensure every qualified resident receives help while on lockdown.

In this town, for example, more than 100,000 residents won’t be getting the national government’s “ayuda” (help), said Mayor Russel Pleyto on Saturday.

The national government has released P2.9 billion for a projected 3 million Bulacan residents. But in the case of Sta. Maria, the second most populous town in Bulacan, it was only allotted P236.9 million even as its population has grown to 320,000, Pleyto said.

Bulacan is part of the containment bubble that include the National Capital Region and the provinces of Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, also known as NCR Plus, which was created to address unprecedented spikes in coronavirus infections in these territories.

The mayor said they would give food and supplies to those who did not receive cash “so that all households in Sta. Maria would have some form of aid” during the ECQ, which was extended until April 14.

All mayors in the province have agreed to dig through their respective treasuries to augment the financial aid, said Guiguinto Mayor Ambrosio Cruz Jr., Bulacan chapter president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines.

The noncash aid in Guiguinto would be composed of a half a cavan or about 30 kilos of rice and canned goods, Cruz said.

Cash-strapped

Pandi Mayor Enrico Roque said his town released P30 million to cover the P1,000 cash aid to 19,818 remaining recipients since the P97.7 million from the national government was insufficient for its 44,500 residents.

The Bulacan city of San Jose del Monte has about a million residents and was allocated the highest amount of cash aid worth P596.8 Million. But 500,000 people now residing in the city won’t be getting P1,000.

San Jose del Monte hosts some of the relocation sites for informal settlers who were displaced from Metro Manila. This relocated population may not have been included when the aid for Bulacan was computed, said Mayor Arthur Robes.

Robes said the city government does not have enough money at the moment to distribute relief packages to the relocated communities.

—CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE “AYUDA” Residents of the village of Santa Peregrina in Pulilan, Bulacan, receive their P1,000 “ayuda” or cash aid from the government on Saturday. Bulacan residents get the aid after it was placed under enhanced community quarantine until April 14, along with the provinces of Cavite, Laguna and Rizal and the National Capital Region, to contain the surge of coronavirus cases in these areas.