MANILA, Philippines — The government will give financial assistance to qualified residents of areas recently placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) “at the right time.”
Malacañang issued this assurance Wednesday as it noted President Rodrigo Duterte’s policy to provide aid to people whose livelihoods are affected by the government-imposed restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has placed Iloilo province, including its capital Iloilo City, Cagayan de Oro, and Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental under ECQ until July 31.
READ: IATF: Iloilo province, Iloilo City, CDO, Gingoog City under ECQ until July 31
“Sa ‘mula’t mula po, ang Presidente, ang sinasabi niya sa IATF, hindi ako papayag na ECQ na walang binibigay na ayuda doon sa mga hindi makakapagtrabaho dahil sa ECQ. Wala pa pong desisyon pero ‘yan po ang matagal nang polisiya ng Presidente,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an online press briefing.
(From the start, the President always tells the IATF that he will not allow the imposition of ECQ without giving aid to those who cannot work because of it. There is still no decision there but that has been the policy of the President.)
“So sa mga taga Iloilo City, Iloilo Province, Cagayan de Oro, Gingoog City, hindi po kayo nakakalimutan ng Presidente. Magbibigay po sa takdang panahon ng ayuda at siguro naman po ‘yan, hindi bababa sa ayudang binigay doon sa mga hindi nakapagtrabaho dito sa Metro Manila noong huling nasa ECQ po ang Metro Manila,” he added.
(To those from Iloilo City, Iloilo province, Cagayan de Oro, and Gingoog City, the President is not forgetting you. Aid will be given at the right time and maybe it will not be lower than the aid given to those who could not work when Metro Manila was under ECQ.)
When the so-called NCR Plus comprising Metro Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna and Rizal returned to ECQ in March, the government gave cash assistance worth P1,000 to each beneficiary with a limit of P4,000 per family.