NO SOCIAL DISTANCING Jobless residents sit close to one another in a covered court at Kaligayahan High School in Novaliches, Quezon City, on Thursday as they wait to claim cash aid from the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The aid is given to impoverished families badly hit by the lockdown imposed due to the new coronavirus pandemic. —JOAN BONDOC
The home affairs chief on Thursday gave local officials up to Sunday to complete the distribution of the first round of cash aid to impoverished families badly hit by the new coronavirus pandemic, warning them of consequences if they failed to meet the new deadline.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año last week extended the deadline for the payout by seven days after the local governments failed to meet the original April 30 deadline.
On Thursday, however, Año gave local officials three more days, or up to May 10, to complete the distribution after receiving reports that only 985 of the remaining 1,644 localities had finished handing out the subsidy.
18M families
Under the law that Congress passed in mid-March to enable President Duterte to respond to the new coronavirus pandemic, the government allocated P200 billion in cash subsidy for 18 million impoverished families who had lost their livelihood because of the lockdown imposed to suppress the local outbreak.
The budget department had released half of the allocation to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which reported last week that P80 billion had been given to local governments and that P54.8 billion had been handed out to beneficiaries.
Last extension
“We have received reports from our field offices that even if distribution of the [cash aid] is done [24 hours seven days a week, local governments], mostly in Metro Manila, are finding it hard to meet the May 7 deadline. We are therefore giving them until May 10 to complete everything,” Año said in a statement. (See related story in Regions, Page A8)He said the League of Cities and Municipalities of the Philippines and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority also asked for an extension of three days.
Although he acknowledged the difficulties of distributing the aid in densely populated areas like Metro Manila, Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, Cebu and Davao City, Año warned that local governments would “definitely receive show-cause orders” if they still fail to complete the payout.
“This is the last extension,” he said. “Our people cannot wait any longer.”
In a radio interview on Thursday, Año gave assurance that the distribution of the second round of the cash aid would proceed even after the easing of lockdown restrictions on May 15.
Cash aid for workers
“Even without [the quarantine], the distribution of [the cash assistance] will continue because what we are talking about here are families affected by the lockdown,” he said.Also on Thursday, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) reported that it had extended cash aid to more than 1 million workers who had lost their jobs due to the lockdown.
In a statement, the Dole said it had disbursed about P4.44 billion of its regular budget and P1.05 billion from its emergency fund to help the workers from the formal and informal sectors. The beneficiaries included migrant workers, who received the aid through Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank).
The Dole said 618,722 formal sector workers from 31,972 micro, small and medium enterprises each received P5,000 in cash assistance. It said it spent P3.09 billion of its 2020 budget for the aid.
More than 35,700 are expected to receive cash aid as the assistance program wraps up this week, the Dole said.
It said 337,198 informal sector workers benefited from a 10-day emergency employment program for which it spent P1.35 billion of its regular budget.
The program involved the disinfection and sanitation of the beneficiaries’ dwellings and immediate vicinity to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.Landbank announced that it had released P24.7 million in cash aid to migrant workers displaced by the pandemic. As of Tuesday, it said 2,468 migrant workers had received aid from the Dole assistance program.
One-time aid
Under the program, “around 135,720 displaced land-based and sea-based [migrant workers] will each receive a one-time financial assistance of P10,000 or $200, or its equivalent currency in the host country,” it said in a statement.
The beneficiaries are 85,720 migrants abroad and 50,000 migrant workers who have been repatriated, it said.
Repatriated workers can claim the aid through the Landbank remittance system at the bank’s branches free of charge.
Migrant workers still abroad can claim the aid at Philippine Overseas Labor Offices processed through Landbank’s outgoing telegraphic transfer free of bank commissions and cable charges. —WITH REPORTS FROM TINA G. SANTOS AND BEN O. DE VERA