Cayetano vows to continue pushing for P10K 'ayuda' bill
Published May 3, 2023 01:37 am
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday, May 3 renewed his vow to pursue the passage of the measure that seeks to provide P10,000 cash aid for each family.
Cayetano insisted the government has sufficient funds to implement such program.
“We will continue to push for it. May pera, pero hindi priority ng gobyerno (There’s funding, but it’s not the government’s priority) to do it that way,” Cayetano said in a short Facebook live.
The senator made the assurance on the second anniversary of his “Sampung Libong Pag-asa” initiative on Tuesday, May 2. He filed Senate Bill No. 62 or the proposed Sampung Libong Pag-asa Law providing the same benefits.
While the bill is still awaiting deliberation at the committee level, Cayetano said the Department of Finance (DOF) itself has confirmed there is P200-billion in the national budget that can be used to implement the proposal.
However, Cayetano noted state economic managers prefer to scatter the budget among various social protection programs under different agencies, which he says is less efficient.
“Ang policy ng administrasyon is ilagay y’ung iba sa PhilHealth, sa AICS (Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations) sa DSWD, sa DOLE, sa DA, sa iba’t ibang program (The administration’s policy is to put it under PhilHealth, AICS, DSWD, DOLE, DA and other programs),” he said.
“Ang mga negosyo nakabangon na, pero ang mga indibidwal hindi pa. So kung papipilahin mo pa sila sa DA, sa DSWD, et cetera, makakakuha naman pero hirap pa at hindi lahat (businesses have recovered, but individual persons haven’t. So if you have to tell these people to line up at the DA, DSWD, etc. they can avail of it, but not all of them will),” he continued.
While pushing for the passage of the bill, Cayetano said he will continue his initiative in which he distributes P10,000 in cash each to chosen beneficiaries from across the country.