ASAP wants rice, livelihood for poor families

Cebu City’s Accelerated Social Amelioration Program (ASAP) board is asking for P10 million to finance rice subsidies to poor families, a livelihood program and child-related activities planned until the end of the year.

The ASAP board, one of the special bodies created under the Office of the Mayor, passed a resolution during their Oct. 19 meeting seeking Mayor Michael Rama’s approval to charge the P10-million allocation against the P30.65-million balance from this year’s social amelioration tax trust fund.

It was not known how much the city has charged to its trust fund since January.

ASAP chairman Dominic Dino said that since Rama already approved their budget request, they are now in the process of procuring the needed supplies and services.

Article VI, Section 17 (D) of the city’s tax ordinance allows ASAP board members to “introduce new program of amelioration as the exigency of the time demands.”

Under their supplementary feeding program, ASAP Board is also authorized to organize “seasonal feeding” for the city’s 20, 000 malnourished public elementary school children or poor families and street dwellers “that can hardly sustain the appropriate nutritional requirement.”

“Our city is placed in a real challenge to combat poverty by placing those in the streets to a place where their potentials can be uncovered and where hope to have a better life is afforded to them,” said the ASAP resolution.

City Hall collects P10 as social amelioration tax from persons who enter establishments serving liquor like bars, discos nightclubs and gambling areas.

Board members passed on Sept. 29 a resolution approving supplemental budget 1 amounting to P10 million to fund ASAP programs and projects.

But the resolution was discussed only during the board’s Oct. 19 meeting.

Signatories of the board resolution are ASAP executive director Fidelis Donaldo; chairman Dino; and members Nendell Hanz Abella, Phillip Zafra, David Tumulak, Mario Victor Baang and Mark Allan Palanca.

Councilor Mary Ann delos Santos, another board member, did not sign the resolution.

The bulk of the budget request, or P4 million, will be spent for the release of rice subsidies to poor families from the 80 barangays while another P1.5 million is for the city’s Gabay livelihood program.

Another P4 million will be spent for the rehabilitation of children’s facilities and child-related activities.

These include the establishment of a halfway house for street dwellers – P1.45 million; renovation of three Kaoshiung Buses used as temporary mobile day care center during the administration of former mayor Tomas Osmena – P1.25 million; installation and renovation of the Cebu City Community Scout Youth Guidance Center – P0.8 million; and the hosting of the 8th Childrens Pasko sa Uptown – P0.42 million.

Part of the allocation amounting to P300, 000 is for the payment of salaries of seven job order workers from July to Dec. 31 while another P200, 000 is for the profiling and monitoring of business establishments.