By Noreen Jazul Pasig City will be allotting a P1.5-billion fund for financial assistance to more than 100,000 families not covered by the government's social amelioration program. Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto
(KEVIN TRISTAN ESPIRITU / MANILA BULLETIN) Mayor Vico Sotto told CNN Philippines on Tuesday that only 93,000 out of the 206,000 families eligible for the SAP were approved by the Department of Social Welfare and Development. “Di natin pwede kalimutan din ‘yung ibang pamilya na di sakop netong 93,000 mula sa SAP,” Sotto said. (We can’t just turn our backs from the families not included in the 93,000 approved for SAP.) Through the Pasig City Supplemental SAP, Sotto said the families which were not approved by the DSWD will be able to receive a one-time P8,000 cash assistance from the local government. Sotto said his team was able to come up with the P1.5 billion fund by setting aside small projects, particularly on infrastructure. “Tiningnan natin yung cash position ng city. We looked what projects we could cancel for now. We also looked into our bank accounts and ‘yung naiimbak na pera sa bank,” the Pasig City mayor said. (We looked into the cash position of the city. We looked what projects we could cancel for now. We also looked into our bank accounts and how much money we have in the bank.) “We made sure that we would scrap yung malilit lang na (only the small) project. A million here, two million there. ‘Yung iba mga rehabilitation ng kalsada pwede naman siguro ipagpaliban natin sa mga susunod na taon ‘yon (Projects canceled include road rehabilitations which we can delay until the next few years),” he added. Sotto, meanwhile, said the city government has already received the SAP from DSWD and is just waiting for the final and approved list of families from the agency.