Quezon City has 1,261 confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as of April 27, 7 p.m.
In its official Viber account, the city government said there were 13 new recoveries with a total number of recoveries of 155 cases.
There were seven new deaths of COVID-19 patients bringing the total number of deaths at 125.
Barangay Batasan Hills has the highest number of cases at 31, followed by Barangay Old Balara at 23, Barangay Tatalon at 15 and Barangay Pinyahan at 14.
Meanwhile, the city has approved an additional budget to fund P4,000 cash assistance each to those excluded from the list of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s social amelioration program.
To beef up its capability in its fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Mayor Joy Belmonte approved a second and third supplemental budget of P1.9 billion for 2020.
The added budget shall cover those not included as SAP beneficiaries and the vulnerable sectors under the Kalingang QC program as well as additional food packs for residents.
A qualified family who has been left out from the SAP shall receive a P4,000 cash assistance or half of the P8,000 provided under the SAP, Belmonte said.
“We cannot just leave behind the others,” she said.
“We are trying our best to address the concerns of the people by regularly going around different barangays and to personally know their needs,” she added.
The P479-million fund for the second supplemental budget, which would be used for purchase of relief goods, was released by the Department of Budget and Management on April 17 as the city government’s one-month share from its internal revenue allocation.
Included in the P1.43-billion third supplemental budget are the P750 million for SAP assistance, P200 million for hazard pay of barangay frontliners, P150 million for Kalingang QC financial assistance and P280 million for relief goods.
“We allocated P200 per day per person who actually worked at the barangay level,” Belmonte said.
The city government previously appealed to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for additional allocation after the agency provided only 377,584 social amelioration cards.
The number provided by the DSWD would cover only about 1/2 of the estimated 723,822 families, which is projected from the 2015 census.
The total number of families in Quezon City may be significantly higher, based on estimates coming from the barangays, according to Belmonte.
