MANILA, Philippines – The Malabon City government is planning to endorse all of its around 86,000 families to avail of the social amelioration package of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Malabon City Mayor Antolin “Lenlen” Oreta said he ordered all 21 barangays in Malabon to update their databases of families so he can endorse a consolidated list of those who may avail of the DSWD’s assistance to help them cope up with the crisis brought by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“COVID-19 spares no one, rich or poor. Every family deserves aid from the government in these extraordinary times. No one should be left behind,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
The mayor noted that in 2015, the Philippine Statistics Authority recorded a population of 365,525 residents in the city, which translates to more than 86,000 families.
“We definitely have more families today yet the DSWD has allotted only 44,032 slots for the whole city,” he added.
For its part, the local government has distributed almost 3,000 sacks of rice, more than 300,000 canned goods, almost 150,000 sachets of coffee, and over 16,000 relief packs from various donations to residents of the city. It had also set up its own mobile markets similar to other cities in Metro Manila.
As of Thursday, Malabon has recorded nine confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of this number, three have died while one had recovered.
Malabon also has 57 patients under investigation (PUIs) and 310 patients under monitoring (PUMs).
Under the Republic Act, 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, each of the 18 million low-income Filipino families will receive an emergency subsidy ranging from P5,000 to P8,000 per month for two months, “in cash or in-kind” from various national government agencies.
Some P200 billion has been allocated for this purpose.
According to DSWD, the emergency subsidy program includes the department’s provision of food and non-food items and financial assistance through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) as well as those provided by other agencies, provided that the benefits received by each household does not exceed the prescribed threshold per region.