VICE President Leni Robredo yesterday said the billions of fund releases for the government’s anti-communist task force should be suspended in favor of the cash aid that will be given to poor families who will be affected by the two-week enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila meant to stop the COVID-19 Delta variant from further spreading.
Robredo was referring to the P19 billion budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s (NTF-ELCAC), of which P16 billion will be spent as Barangay Development Fund for barangays that have been declared to be communist insurgency-free.
“Nabalitaan natin recently ‘yung pag-release ng bilyon-bilyong pondo para sa National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. Habang hindi pa tayo nakakaahon mula sa pandemya, ipagpaliban muna natin ito at tiyakin na walang Pilipinong magugutom.
Madaming nangangailangan ng tulong natin, lalo na ‘yung ECQ-affected families (We’ve recently heard about the billions of funds for the NTF-ELCAC. While we haven’t recovered from this pandemic, let’s set this aside and ensure that no Filipino will be hungry. Many need help, especially ECQ-affected families),” the Vice President said in a statement.
Robredo echoed the earlier statements made by his party mate in the Liberal Party and Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon, who criticized the government’s prioritizing of its anti-insurgency campaign over the grant of cash aid to displaced families.
“There are 4.2 million Filipino families who experienced involuntary hunger in May and 3.7 million unemployed Filipinos in June. We need to make sure the cash grant will reach each one of them so we can somehow give them relief,” she said.
The government has allotted P13.1 billion to provide a one-time cash grant to about 10.7 million Metro Manila residents when NCR reverts to ECQ from today until August 20.
They are proposed to get P1,000 per individual or a maximum of P4,000 per family but the Vice President said the government could have allotted more to help families cope during the crisis, stressing that the current amount may not be even enough to pay for their monthly rent.
Robredo called for a faster and more efficient distribution of cash grant or “ayuda” for residents of the NCR who will be heavily affected by the reimposition of a two-week lockdown.
“How many times have we been under ECQ? So we expect that by now, we’ve already ironed out the process and the system of delivery of assistance,” Robredo said.
The Vice President also reiterated lockdowns are just stop gap measures, as she urged the government to make use of the two-week lockdown to expand testing, tracing, hospital readiness, social amelioration, and vaccination efforts.
“While we are on lockdown, government must focus on programs that will help contain the virus and prevent another widescale ECQ. Daily testing should be increased from 50,000 to 120,000 to effectively detect infections, contact tracing should be strengthened by using only one contact tracing app and creating a central database so that outbreaks can be pinpointed, and lockdowns are more granular,” she said.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque yesterday said the declaration of ECQ is not dependent on whether the government has funds to provide cash assistance during the lockdown or not.
Roque said President Duterte’s order, however, that there will be “no lockdown, without ayuda (cash) aid)” stands.
“Let’s just say it’s not an issue of whether there is a fund but we will look for funds. The mandate of the President is not to declare ECQ without aid. Now, if there is no budget for the aid, we will look for it,” he said.
Roque said apart from the savings of government agencies, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said dividends remitted by the government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) may be tapped for the cash assistance for the low income families affected by the ECQ.
He said that if that is not enough, the executive branch can ask Congress to pass a supplemental budget.
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, who chairs the House committee on ways and means, said the economy stands to lose P225.3 billion because of the two-week lockdown.
Salceda said there will be another P179.97 billion in GDP losses if the Calabarzon will be placed under ECQ, too, which could increase the total losses to P405.3 billion. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
