Cainta mayor’s shoe auction rolls into donation drive

Photo from Mayor Kit Nieto’s Facebook post

MANILA, Philippines — Some local governments are digging deep into their pockets to raise funds to augment the national cash subsidy program during the coronavirus pandemic.

In Rizal province, the mayor of Cainta went as far as selling off pairs of basketball shoes and sneakers he had collected for the past six years.

“Many were not [qualified to receive cash aid from the government]. Cainta was given a 37,000-plus allocation, yet we have 320,000 people. We don’t have the kind of money that Pasig (City) has to support those who were not covered by the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development),” said Cainta Mayor Johnielle Keith Nieto.

He was referring to the two-month cash aid from the DSWD, which targeted the “poorest” sectors of society. But with a limit set on the number of beneficiaries for every city or municipality, local governments are forced to source additional funds to cover a larger population similarly affected by the pandemic.

Pasig has announced it is giving P8,000 per family under the city’s supplemental cash aid.

Outside Metro Manila, the city government of Dasmariñas in Cavite province said it would give P2,000 to every low-income household that failed to meet the national government’s criteria.

Online auction

Nieto on Tuesday opened an online public bidding for his Air Jordan shoes, the brand popularized by American basketball superstar Michael Jordan. Among these was a pair given to the mayor as a present by his nephew and Ateneo Blue Eagles guard, Matt Nieto.

The mayor said he would keep auctioning off three pairs a day until the lifting of the community quarantine. “I can just [buy new ones] after this [pandemic] but I feel [the auction] is what’s relevant to times like this,” he said in a telephone interview.

Cainta was able to raise P132,000 on the first run of its auction, which also inspired private individuals, like an online shoe seller, to donate eight pairs of brand new rubber shoes. The auction ends on April 30.

Shoe brand Sole Republiq donated three pairs of “high-end rubber shoes for straight sale,” Nieto said.

Cainta is among the areas in Calabarzon region with the highest cases of virus infection at 40, with at least six deaths. —MARICAR CINCO