Abalos bids for in-person distribution of ECQ aid in NCR over lack of time, technology

MMDA Chairman Benhur Abalos. Image from the MMDA website

MANILA, Philippines — Local government units in Metro Manila may just have to opt for face-to-face distribution of the possible cash aid for residents who will be affected by the impending reimposition of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the region.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairperson Benhur Abalos believes so, citing the lack of time to prepare for it as well as the lack of technology, mostly by recipients, to facilitate the program’s digital distribution.

“We don’t have much time, as there are only four days before the ECQ takes effect in Metro Manila. (Also) this cash assistance is intended for the poorest of the poor, and most of them do not have smartphones,” Abalos told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview on Tuesday.

Digital wallet transactions or payout systems like those tapped by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) are being done through smartphone applications.

Abalos, however, clarified that his proposal for in-person cash aid distribution despite the ECQ in Metro Manila was not because of corruption issues lodged against DSWD, particularly by Senator Manny Pacquiao, on the alleged irregularities with the digital wallet transactions.

“No, the reason is really that we don’t have enough time,” he added.

Metro Manila is poised to go through another ECQ – the strictest lockdown in the government’s pandemic rules – starting later this week. 

President Rodrigo Duterte approved last Friday the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) resolution placing the National Capital Region under ECQ from August 6-20.

The latest hard lockdown comes in the face of threats posed by the highly contagious Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus causing serious respiratory illness COVID-19. The Delta variant is just one of the many variants of the new coronavirus which results from its mutations.

This is the third time Metro Manila was placed under ECQ after the Luzon-wide lockdown in March 2020. Metro Manila was first placed under ECQ in August 2020, and then in March this year as cases surged because of the COVID-19 Alpha variant.

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