RICE | CDN FILE PHOTO
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Cebu City Government will be distributing another round of rice assistance to the city’s underprivileged soon.
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella on Friday, April 24, 2020, announced in a press briefing that they have already purchased additional 150,000 sacks of rice.
Labella said the sacks of rice are part of the city government’s efforts in providing a ‘second wave’ of assistance to those who are direly affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) which has been extended to May 15.
“Since we declared an extension of our ECQ, we decided to give a second wave of 150,000 sacks of rice for those who needed assistance,” said Labella in Cebuano.
He added that the city government will be delivering the sacks of rice to officials from the city’s 80 barangays who, by then, are tasked to do an inventory and profiling of those who are qualified to receive the assistance.
Labella again reminded the public that the rice aid is intended only for those who were greatly affected by the economic impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“We are a city with a population of 1.1 million but I would like to remind everyone again that not all will be provided with rice assistance,” Labella said.
“This is only for those who lost their jobs due to ECQ and those belonging in the informal sector,” he added.
Labella said habal-habal (motorcycle-for-hire) drivers are included in the city’s list of qualified beneficiaries for the rice assistance. /rcg