Still no cash aid for 7.7M poor families

MANILA, Philippines — As many as 7.7 million poor families out of the targeted 18 million households have not received the first tranche of the government’s cash assistance program, according to Malacañang’s May 4 report to Congress, drawing derision from critics.

The opposition Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives said on Tuesday the fault lay in the administration’s “lack of urgency and slow rate of action,” resulting in delays in the distribution of the so-called social amelioration program after seven weeks of lockdown.

The progressive lawmakers cited the data from President Duterte’s own report to Congress on the progress of the implementation of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, which gave the chief executive special powers to address the coronavirus pandemic.

That law authorized about P200 billion in cash assistance to 18 million poor families over two months.

Based on the figures in the report, some 10.3 million indigent families — which is less than two-thirds of the target  — have received their share of the P5,000 to P8,000 financial assistance.

Of that figure, 3.8 million households are enrolled in 4Ps or the government’s conditional cash transfer program, while 6.4 million are not. Another 40,000 belonged in the public transport sector, the report said.