By Minka Tiangco
The Manila City government will be distributing three kilos of rice to 571,000 families each who are affected by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) crisis. This was after the city government bought 50,000 sacks of rice, weighing about 2.5 million kilos.
Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso said they ordered the sacks of rice two weeks ago in anticipation of the extension of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon. "We are trying to accumulate basic goods and particularly rice, so we entered into a contract with NFA about two weeks ago, and we are now doing some storing in our facilities, hoping in our own little way, to extend food assistance to our people," Domagoso said during the inspection of sacks at Pritil Market Thursday evening.
The local chief executive said the rice will be delivered to the barangays next week. “If we have 571,000 families, at three kilos, that’s more or less 1.5 to 1.8 million. So, we still have a buffer, but it's better to have excess rice, so that, as much as possible, we get to distribute to everyone," he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Aside from this, the city government has been distributing food boxes and a P1,000-cash relief from its City Amelioration Crisis Assistance Fund (CACAF) to each family in the city. According to the Manila Public Information Office (PIO), over 235,000 families have received food boxes from the local government as of Thursday evening.
The Manila City government also disbursed more than P576 million of funds sourced from the CACAF to 896 barangays.