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Friday, March 29, 2024

Joy worried over cash aid deadline

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Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Thursday expressed alarm over the 15-day deadline set for the local government unit to distribute cash aid to its residents, considering the city’s population of over 3 million.

Belmonte raised concern on how to maintain social distancing in the distribution of aid should the city government rush to finish the payout.

“The size of our population has not been taken into consideration. I just hope the national government would consider this,” she said.

The mayor said they would issue stubs to beneficiaries to limit the number to 2,000 per day.

The city government is guided by the list from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Belmonte said.

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She urged those not on the list to bring up their concern before the grievance committee of their respective barangays.

About 800,000 families in Quezon City will benefit from the financial assistance given by the national government to those affected by the enhanced community quarantine in the “National Capital Region Plus” area.

Belmonte said Wednesday the national government has allocated P2.482, billion for the city’s residents.

“Given their rule of P1,000 per individual, that should cover about 2.481 million beneficiaries and if we’re going to break that down into families since the maximum is about P4,000 per family, we are looking towards assisting about 800,000 families,” Belmonte said in a phone interview with the Philippine News Agency.

She said based on the guidelines by the national government, those eligible for the aid are the same beneficiaries of the social amelioration program (SAP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Also included in the list are beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), Belmonte said. The city government is also reviewing the list of beneficiaries provided to them as they have noticed duplication in names.

By removing duplicate names on these lists, she said they could also include those who received assistance from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Social Security System (SSS) last year and were excluded from the list of SAP beneficiaries.

“We have our own database, we are mandated primarily to follow the DSWD database but if there are still remaining funds, meaning their list is not complete after covering those they have provided and the criteria of the national government is those belonging to the low-income families, I don’t think it is bad to add some deserving beneficiaries),” Belmonte said.

On Wednesday, the city government started distributing the cash assistance to beneficiaries.

Belmonte said they are targeting to accommodate about 2,000 individuals per site to avoid crowding in 30 sites covering 40 barangays.

The 40 barangays are as follows: District 1 — Vasra, San Antonio, Katipunan, Paltok, Mariblo, and N.S Amoranto; District 2 — Payatas, Bagong Silangan, Commonwealth, Batasan Hills, and Holy Spirit; District 3 — Socorro, East Kamias, Loyola Heights, Old Balara, Masagana, Villa Maria Clara, Mangga, Libis, Camp Aguinaldo, Blue Ridge A, Blue Ridge B, St. Ignatius, White Plains, Dioquino Zobel, Escopa IV, Escopa I and Escopa II; District 4 –Sacred Heart, Pinagkaisahan, Mariana, San Isidro Galas, San Vicente, and Botocan; District 5 — Sta. Lucia, Capri and Gulod; and District 6 — Sauyo, Sangandaan and Culiat.

The city government aimed to distribute the cash aid to around 62,176 individuals across all its six districts on its first day of distribution.

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