Duterte seeks budget cuts to fund cash aid

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado to “prune” the budgets of agencies under the executive branch to fund the second tranche of financial aid for poor Filipinos.

The President issued the directive in an effort to reach out to 23 million low-income families in areas under community quarantine who expect to receive the second wave of the P205-billion social amelioration program (SAP).

“I will use the word used by the President, ‘Tuliin na niya.’ Try to prune down or try to really come up with a viable list of budgetary items that can be realigned for the purpose of giving social amelioration to the people … The President has ordered him to find ways and means to give social amelioration to everyone in the second tranche,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

23M eyed to get cash

The Palace official said the Chief Executive wanted all 23 million families who benefited from the first tranche to receive aid anew in the second tranche.

“He ordered the economic team to study if it is possible to give cash aid under the second tranche, meaning 23 million families … Although this is still being studied, he wants all 23 million families to receive aid whether it be under general community quarantine (GCQ) or enhanced community quarantine (ECQ),” Roque said.

He added that the President was also asking the help of Congress in finding ways to fund the SAP for low-income families.

“He’s telling Congress, ‘Help me find ways to fund this,’ and if not, he will really sell [government assets],” Roque said.

He made the remarks as the government prepares to implement the second tranche of the P5,000 to P8,000 monthly financial aid to poor Filipino families hard-hit by the novel coronavirus crisis.

Don’t limit distribution

Earlier, the Palace said the second tranche of emergency subsidy might be given only to 11 million poor families in ECQ areas, and that families in GCQ areas may no longer get aid.

The country will shift into GCQ from May 16 to 31, except for Metro Manila, Laguna and Cebu City, which will be under modified ECQ for the same period.

Roque said Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea was expected to issue a memorandum on the distribution of the second tranche of the cash aid.

A Mindanao lawmaker, for his part, said the government would violate the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act if it limits distribution of the second tranche of the emergency cash subsidy only to poor families in areas still covered by the ECQ.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez on Friday called on the interagency task force (IATF) on COVID-19 to reconsider its recommendation to remove households covered by the GCQ from the list of beneficiaries of the cash aid.

“I am appealing to the IATF to change that recommendation, because it violates the Bayanihan law, or Republic Act No. 11469, which specifically targets 18 million low-income households as beneficiaries of financial aid for two months—last month and this month,” he said.

Rodriguez said he appreciated the reasons behind IATF’s recommendation, but asserted that “the task force cannot go against the law.”

“Also, it has been two months now since the March 15 community quarantine imposition and, clearly, for the past two months the poor families nationwide have all been without income,” he said.

“The recommendation will benefit only those in Metro Manila and a few other LGUs (local government units),” he said.