Lacson: P500 subsidy for poor better, but still not enough

FILE PHOTO: Residents of a small apartment building do house chores outside their units, amid the lockdown to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in a slum area in Tondo, Manila, Philippines, May 4, 2020. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez/File Photo

MANILA, Philippines — The P500 monthly aid for poor families amid rising prices of fuel is better than the previous P200 but it is still not enough, presidential candidate Senator Panfilo Lacson said Tuesday.

Lacson said a P200 subsidy is “pathetically too small, too little” so it is better that President Rodrigo Duterte decided to increase it to P500.

“Definitely ‘yung P500 is better than P200. Ang tingin namin sa P200 talagang  pathetically too small, too little. Hindi talaga makakasapat ‘yun kung ang hangad mo ay makatulong as ayuda,” he said in a press briefing.

(We think that the P200 is pathetically too small and too little. It is not enough if you want it to help.)

“Mabuti dinagdagan ni Pangulo at ginawang P500,” Lacson added.

(It is good that the President increased it.)

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Department of Finance to find a way to increase the proposed monthly allowance for poor families from P200 to P500 even if it would cause problems for his successor.

The cash aid approved by Duterte will be given to poor households to help them cope with rising prices of goods amid successive oil price hikes.

For vice presidential candidate Senate President Vicente Sotto III, it is better that the government suffer and toil in finding sources of funding for the aid, instead of Filipinos suffering.

“Pag ganitong pagkakataon ‘di bale na ang gobyerno ang magsakripsyo, ‘wag lang maghirap ang ating kababayan,” he said.

(In cases like this, it is better that it is the government that will make a sacrifice and suffer than the Filipinos.)

KGA