568,000 Manila families to get P 1k each

Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso

MANILA, Philippines — Around 568,000 families in Manila will each receive P1,000 in cash assistance before Easter Sunday for the “purchase [of] much-needed food and supplies for their survival.”

Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso signed on Sunday City Ordinance No. 8625, or the “City Amelioration Crisis Assistance Fund,” which authorized the allocation of a P591.5 million supplemental budget for qualified beneficiaries in Manila’s 896 barangays.

According to Domagoso, the money will be given to barangay leaders who will be in charge of identifying the beneficiaries and distributing the cash assistance starting today, April 7.

“They will be doing house-to-house distribution. All the families you will list down should be given the cash assistance and [they should issue] an acknowledgment receipt,” Domagoso told the barangay chairs in a live broadcast.

“I am humbly asking you to help me. I believe in you; you are elected officials,” he added

The funds were taken from the Office of the Mayor’s maintenance and other operating expenses account, the Manila Department of Social Welfare and 20 percent of the city development fund, according to the ordinance.

In Pasay City, at least 15,000 informal transport drivers affected by the Luzon-wide lockdown will receive P1,000 each from the local government.

Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano has approved an ordinance appropriating P16 million as cash assistance for tricycle, jeepney, and pedicab drivers.

According to the ordinance passed by the city council and introduced by Vice Mayor Noel del Rosario, the aid would address the needs of drivers “with no more viable source of income during the enhanced community quarantine period.”

—With a report from Jodee A. Agoncillo