Sotto: Poor families in GCQ areas should still be given cash aid by govt

MANILA, Philippines — Low-income households in areas covered by general community quarantine (GCQ) should still be covered by the government’s cash subsidy program amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Thursday.

This came after the Palace announced that only the 11.5 million families in areas under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) will receive the cash subsidy that ranges from P5,000 to P8,000 during the second tranche of the government’s social amelioration program (SAP).

“Sa akin kasi, kung ang sasabhin ng executive department ay ‘yung mga areas na nag-green light na—hindi GCQ—yung inalis na ‘yung community quarantine, inalis na yung parang lockdown, kung yun ang gagawin, okay yun, swak sa batas yun,” Sotto said in an interview with radio station DZMM.

(For me, if the executive department will say that those in green-lighted areas, or those where the community quarantine has been lifted, will no longer be covered by the program, that’s okay. That is within the law.)

Sotto said that those in areas under GCQ are technically still under quarantine.

“Dapat ‘yun ay sa mga green lang, hindi sa mga GCQ sapagkat the reason is that ‘yung sa green pwede nang magtrabaho ulit. Pwede na rin yung mga negosyo, halos lahat pwede na,” the Senate President said.

(The exclusion from the cash subsidy should just be in green-lighted areas, not in in GCQ ares because in green-lighted areas, you can work again. You can operate a business, almost everything is allowed.)

“‘Yung sa GCQ, limitado e. So hindi pe-pwedeng i-lift mo ‘yan (In GCQ, it is still limited. So you cannot lift that.),” he added.

Section 4 (c) of Republic Act No. 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act tackles the provision of an emergency subsidy to around 18 million low-income households in the country affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The subsidy amounts from P5,000 to P8,000 a month for two months and is computed based on the “prevailing regional minimum wage rates.”

In explaining the exclusion of GCQ areas from the second tranche of the SAP, Palace spokesperson Harry Roque argued that unlike in ECQ areas, quarantine protocols are relaxed in GCQ areas.

“Ang rationale naman po kaya nilimit na sa ECQ areas, yung GCQ areas kasi kahit papano nagbubukas na yung kanilang mga ekonomiya, nakakapagtrabaho na sila. Samantalang yung mga nasa ECQ, wala pa rin pong trabaho,” Roque explained.

(The rationale behind limiting the aid to families in ECQ areas is because areas in GCQ areas are slowly opening up its economy and people can return to their jobs. Those from the ECQ, meanwhile, still can’t return to work.)

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier approved an additional five million families to benefit under the first tranche of the financial aid program amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis.

/MUF