Pateros cites lack of ‘ayuda’ funds amid granular lockdown

MANILA, Philippines — Pateros Mayor Miguel Ponce on Monday said that the municipality is hounded by the need to provide aid to residents affected by granular lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Dito, nahihirapan kami i-enforce talaga ‘yung granular lockdown. Kung mayroon tayong buong kalsada na mayroon nang anim na bahay na affected dahil mayroong positive at close contact pero 50 bahay ‘yung nandoon, mahihirapan kaming bigyan ng ayuda lahat ito. Wala kaming pagkukunan nito,” Ponce said over Teleradyo.

(We face difficulty in enforcing granular lockdown. If we have a street with 50 households, and six of which are COVID-affected, it will be hard to provide aid to all of the affected families.)

Instead, barangays in the local government tie yellow ribbons in houses with COVID-infected individuals.

“Kaya ang ginawa namin — tingin ko mas maganda — lagyan na lang natin ng identification, kung talagang wala namang problema sa kanila. At iyon, tukuyin natin kung sino ‘yung bahay na imo-monitor natin. Kung sino ‘yung bahay na ating bibigyan ng ayuda,” Ponce shared.

(What we do — which I think is better — is we put an identification, if it is okay with them. With that, we can identify the houses that need to be monitored and provided with aid.)

He clarified that affected families could remove the yellow ribbon if they wish to do so.

Ponce added that Pateros has seen a recent decline in COVID-19 cases.

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