Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año reported on Wednesday night, April 28, that 67.60 percent of the 22.9 million recipients in Metro Manila and four adjacent provinces have already received the national government’s financial assistance.
In a briefing with President Duterte, Año said the figure translates to 15.49 million beneficiaries in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal or NCR (National Capital Region)-plus areas which were placed under stricter quarantine rules from March 29 to April 11.
Overall, Año said a total of P15.53 billion out of the allotted P22.9 billion was already disbursed to the poor individuals in NCR-plus.
The DILG chief said that in Metro Manila 8,207,921 out of 11,172,988 beneficiaries (73.46 percent) got their ayuda (cash aid).
In Bulacan, 61.13 percent or 1,813,668 of the 2,967,039 recipients received their financial assistance while 1,833,980 out of 3,444,488 beneficiaries (53.24 percent) got their share in Cavite.
A total of 2,067,891 out of the 2,718,083 (76.08 percent) qualified poor families in Laguna already received their ayuda while 61.63 percent or 1,610,347 of the 2,612,824 recipients got the payout.
The payout grants the qualified beneficiaries in the NCR-plus P1,000 cash aid each with a maximum of P4,000 given per family.
Año added that out of the 23,292 cash assistance-related complaints, 15,736 are under deliberation with 3,824 already resolved.
He noted that the DILG has given the LGUs a longer time to dispense the cash assistance to ensure the safety of the recipients, handout of all the cash aid and assure that the LGUs address the complaints.
In case the LGUs fail to resolve the issue, the DILG will step into the picture and conduct its own investigation and impose sanctions against the guilty parties. (Chito A. Chavez)