The authorities will provide cash assistance to residents affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) which is being enforced in Metro Manila from August 6 to 20 to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Department of Budget and Management to explore financial assistance to residents after the lockdown is enforced.
Roque added that Metro Manila residents could expect cash aid of Php1,000 per person or up to Php4,000 per family, similar to the cash assistance provided in March.
RELATED STORY: COVID-19 lockdown to cost PH economy Php105 billion weekly
The assurance from the Presidential Palace comes as lawmakers at the House of Representatives pushed for the immediate passage of the Bayanihan to Arise As One Bill or Bayanihan 3.
Earlier Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said the bill provides for the distribution of additional cash subsidy for households.
He said that around P30 billion has been proposed as a cash grant under the Bayanihan 3 bill.
House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman and Albay Second District Rep. Jose Ma. Clemente “Joey” Salceda said an additional budget was required under Bayanihan 3.
House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep said that Bayanihan 3 should be passed “as soon as possible.”
Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go and Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the there was a need of “anticipatory” measures to enhance the health system capacity in case of a surge in Delta variant cases.
As the Philippines registered over 8,000 new Covid-19 cases for the second straight day, local chief executives recommended the lockdown to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the management of emerging infectious diseases.
Earlier the independent OCTA Research group called for a “circuit-breaker” lockdown to prevent the spread of the Delta variant.
READ ON: Guidelines on movement, economic activities for NCR under ECQ from August 6-20
On Saturday, the Department of Health said that the Philippines registered 8,147 new Covid-19 cases though no of them were on account of Delta variant. In the country, the positive rate is 14.7 percent with 8,064 of the 54,857 samples found positive for the virus. The death toll has reached 27,889 which includes 167 new fatalities.
In the hospitals, the occupancy rate for intensive care units for COVID-19 patients is 59 percent and was 52 percent alone in Metro Manila.
Earlier the business groups and the Department of Trade and Industry warned that another lockdown would make the process of revitalizing the economy difficult. Each week of ECQ in Metro Manila will cost the economy Php105 billion, said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua.
Apart from Metro Manila, Iloilo province and its highly urbanized city, and the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Gingoog have been ordered to be placed under ECQ. (AW)
