The government should prioritize giving out higher assistance to indigent senior citizens than having another round of cash-aid or “ayuda” for the general public, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said on Monday, Aug. 29, that with the national government’s limited fiscal space, it should judiciously spend only on programs and projects that have the greatest benefit for people who are in dire t need.

At the Development Budget Coordination Committee briefing with the House Appropriations Committee last Friday, Diokno was quoted as saying that it was a “waste of public funds” to give cash aid to Filipinos in relation to the pandemic.

Diokno explained that “ayuda” to Filipinos in relation to the pandemic is no longer necessary at this point because the economy has already recovered from the health crisis.

“It is now back to where it was before the Covid-19 crisis, with the opening of the economy and increasing mobility,” Diokno said. "The ayudas associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, such as in Bayanihan I and II, should cease as normalization is achieved and as we learn to live with the virus.

“These ayudas were justified when there were lockdowns and restricted mobility of citizens. But there are no more lockdowns, the President himself announced it himself. Citizens are now free to move around. Face-to-face schooling is back,” he added.

Instead of Covid-19 “ayuda," Diokno said it is more appropriate to continue the existing social protection programs, such as grants for poor families with children of school age, support for senior citizens, assistance to displaced workers, among others.

“Public finances are finite. They have to be allocated judiciously for programs and projects that would result to the greatest benefit for the greatest number of citizens and the overall welfare,” Diokno said.

“For example, there are new demands on public finances such as the recently approved law mandating higher assistance for indigent seniors. It's better to use public resources for the indigent seniors, if funds are available, than for the ayudas meant for the general public,” he added.

Last Saturday, House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro criticized Diokno’s over the latter’s “waste of funds” remark during the House Appropriations Committee briefing.

Castro said Diokno’s statement was “anti-poor.”

“It seems that his concept of being ‘fully recovered’ from the pandemic is simply not having lockdowns and does not consider the rising numbers of jobless in the country, the rising cost of basic goods and services, and the 19.9 million poor Filipinos,” Castro said.

She then reminded the DOF secretary that public funds come from people’s taxes, noting that the poor and the middle class pay taxes through the excise, value-added, and income taxes.