The Quezon City government has given out P1.2 billion in financial aid to almost 600,000 vulnerable residents under the “Kalingang QC” program, Mayor Joy Belmonte said on Sunday.
The city handed P2,000 financial assistance to each of 599,744 individuals from vulnerable sectors and those whose livelihoods were sorely affected by the enforcement of enhanced community quarantines amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have realized our promise that we will not deprive any sector of our help amid the pandemic,” Belmonte said.
The program initially covered drivers of public utility jeeps, tricycles, pedicabs, taxis, transport network vehicle services, and UV Express drivers as well as market vendors, laborers, household workers, and other daily wage earners affected by the lockdown.
Belmonte said she decided to expand the coverage to include solo parents, lactating mothers, persons with disability, senior citizens, scholars, and sellers of dry goods and cellular phone accessories.
The city government earlier earmarked P200 million for 100,000 initial beneficiaries of the program, but the coverage expansion prompted it to increase funds through a supplemental budget to assist more people in need, the mayor said.
Apart from the Kalingang QC program, the city government also initiated its own social amelioration program (SAP), wherein families left out of the national government’s SAP stand to receive P4,000 financial assistance.
Latest data showed that 19,011 beneficiaries from 23 barangays have already claimed financial aid from the city.
While it has been downgraded to general community quarantine, the city will continue to distribute its own SAP to deserving recipients, Belmonte said.
Meanwhile, the city government has attributed Quezon City’s high COVID-19 recovery rate to the Hope community care facilities, where patients with mild symptoms and suspected cases are admitted and properly taken care of until they test negative for the coronavirus.
Dr. Rolly Cruz, the city’s Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit head, said data as of July 16 showed the recovery rate in Quezon City is at 55 percent, higher than its active cases. It went as high as 61 percent last June 30.
“This is in contrast to the average in the National Capital Region, where active cases still outnumber recovered patients,” he said.
Even before the national government initiated Oplan Kalinga, Cruz said the city had a standing policy of isolating mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients unable to comply with health protocols for home quarantine in its Hope facilities, as well as suspected cases waiting for the results of their swab tests.
The city now has three Hope facilities with a total capacity of 500 beds, manned by skilled in-house health care personnel and all the patients’ needs, from food to medicine.
“The Hope community caring facilities remain one of the priority programs of the city to battle COVID-19,” Belmonte said.
“Our current capacity will be further expanded to ensure that those who cannot undergo self-isolation have a place to stay where they will be cared for and treated by medical professionals complete with meals and comfortable board and lodging,” she added.
The construction of two new Hope facilities with an estimated total capacity of 280 beds is underway and expected to be operational by early August.
“One is the repurposed old building of the Quezon City General Hospital and the other is a school building that has yet to be turned over to the Department of Education,” the city mayor.
The city government is also partnering with the Department of Public Works and Highways to renovate another two facilities for a slated September opening.
When these projects are completed, the city would have a total of 1,400 beds for patients and suspected cases.
Belmonte said health-care workers who have served in Hope facilities are provided with accommodation after two weeks of work.
“This would allow them to isolate and wait for negative test results to ensure that they are safe when they return to their families,” she said.