By Chito Chavez
Benguet Governor Melchor Diclas on Wednesday vowed to exert all efforts to meet today’s, April 30 deadline in the distribution of the subsidy from the national government’s social amelioration program (SAP) to all of the province’s municipalities.
Benguet Governor Melchor Diclas (Facebook /MANILA BULLETIN)
DILG Secretary Eduardo Ano had warned earlier that the local government units (LGUs) that fail to meet the April 30 deadline for the cash assistance distribution to the beneficiaries will be issued show-cause orders.
Admitting that the Benguet provincial LGU was encountering “great difficulties,” Diclas said between 70 to 80 percent of the municipalities have already received the cash aid and efforts are being fully exerted to complete the distribution.
Diclas said Benguet’s rugged topography’ with numerous far-fung and hard to reach areas has been a major challenge in completing the SAP distribution promptly.
With regards to funding COVID-19 concerns, Diclas said the provincial government does not need to realign its funds as it has adequate savings in its coffers.
He said the savings will be used for COVID-19 purposes like the needs of the provincial hospitals which include the hiring of almost 40 health workers.
At present, Diclas said the province has continued its contact tracing and isolation of COVID 19 cases as it awaits the swab test results of the concerned patients.
He also thanked Rep. Eric Go Yap for his P1 million donation which was utilized for the purchase of locally-grown vegetables as an aid to the farmers’ livelihood.