(INQUIRER file photo)
MANILA, Philippines — Local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila will start distributing financial aid to residents affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) on Wednesday, according to the chairman of the Metro Manila Council (MMC).
MMC Chairman and Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez said Metro Manila mayors have agreed to distribute the cash aid simultaneously.
“Napag-usapan namin na lahat ng syudad sa Metro Manila, sa Miyerkules magsisimula lahat. Simultaneously lahat. Magsisimula ang pagbibigay ng financial assistance sa lahat ng mga residente na affected ng ECQ,” he said in an interview on ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.
(We agreed that all cities in Metro Manila will start distributing financial aid on Wednesday. It will be done simultaneously. We will start to give financial assistance to all residents affected by the ECQ.)
“Lahat po ‘yan. Simultaneously ‘yung labing-anim na siyudad at isang munisipyo. Miyerkules ng umaga mag-uumpisa lahat,” he added.
(This will cover all LGUs. The 16 cities and one municipality will simultaneously start distributing aid on Wednesday morning.)
Olivarez said the aid will be given through electronic wallets and face-to-face distribution.
He said those who previously registered under previous social amelioration programs (SAP) will be qualified to receive aid.
He, however, added that those not in the list will have to fill up forms before the grievance committee in their respective barangays.
“Sa pag-uusap namin sa joint memorandum circular, magbubuo rin per barangay ng grievance committee at doon magfifill-up sila ng form para mabigyan sila ng ayuda,” he explained when asked about persons not in the previous list of SAP beneficiaries.
(Based on our discussion about the joint memorandum circular, each barangay will form a grievance committee where they can fill up a form so they can receive aid.)
The government earlier released a joint memorandum circular providing guidelines for the release of the ECQ aid.
Under the circular, P1,000 will be given to each low-income individual or a maximum of P4,000 for each household affected by the ECQ.
On Friday, the Department of Budget and Management said “the cash aid shall benefit 10.9 million individuals or the bottom 80 percent of the population in Metro Manila, based on the population projection and available data of the Philippine Statistics Authority.”
The DBM has released P10.89 billion for this purpose.
Local governments were given 15 days to complete the distribution.
Metro Manila was placed under ECQ from August 6 to August 20 to prevent the further spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19.