THE Department of Interior and Local Government yesterday said the “ayuda,” or cash assistance, distribution in the National Capital Region (NCR) is 75 percent complete and is expected to be finished by Wednesday.
Interior Undersecretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya said P8.4 billion out of the P11.2 billion approved cash financial aid has been distributed to 8.4 million individuals as of August 21.
President Duterte approved the distribution of financial aid in the amount of P1,000 per person, or a maximum of P4,000 per family, to low-income households in the NCR affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed from August 6 until 20 to control the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), especially the Delta variant of the virus,
Malaya said Caloocan City has already completed the distribution of its P1.3 billion financial aid to 1.3 million beneficiaries, while Pateros town has reported a completion rate of 96.87 percent, and the cities of Manila at 82.71 percent completion, Mandaluyong at 82.52 percent and Parañaque at 77.89 percent.
Malaya said local executives can request for an extension of the Wednesday distribution deadline.
“We understand the challenges in the distribution of this financial aid considering the need to control the number of people in distribution points because of the pandemic. Still, we are calling on our mayors and punong barangays to ensure that the target beneficiaries will receive the ayuda the earliest possible time,” he said.
At the same time, Malaya said the government will continue the payout of the financial assistance to families affected by the two-week lockdown in the NCR and the provinces of Laguna and Bataan, even as he dismissed as “fake news” reports that the distribution will now stop since the areas have shifted to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
Malaya said: “Though more people are now back to work, the ayuda is a commitment of government and will continue to be distributed despite the change in quarantine classification. It’s not true that the ayuda for NCR Plus will stop because we have shifted to MECQ. That is fake news.”
“We reiterate, there is no truth to the claim that the ayuda will stop now that the ECQ is over. The funds have been downloaded to the local government units (LGUs) and we will continue until the last peso is distributed,” said Malaya.
The government has alloted P11.2 billion for NCR, P2.72 billion for Laguna, and P370 million for Bataan residents who were affected by the strict lockdown imposed in the areas earlier this month.
President Duterte has deescalated the quarantine classification of Metro Manila, Laguna, and Bataan to MECQ starting August 21 until 31.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., who is also the chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19, said an extended ECQ would derail business operations and eventually, affect the country’s economic growth.
Galvez said that while the recent implementation of the two-week ECQ in Metro Manila helped bring down the COVID-19 positivity rate that resulted in the downgrading of the quarantine classification, “but we consider its effect on the business sector, we can see that it is not sustainable.”
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque shared Galvez’ view, saying: “Let’s just say that we are hoping, because everytime we impose a lockdown, we have to adjust again our economic forecast… another lockdown, and we might not reach positive growth.”
The growth assumption for this year was revised to four to five percent from six to seven percent following the reimposition of stricter lockdowns to contain the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Christian Oineza
