Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday shot back at his critics who have been demanding P10,000 ayuda from him as supposedly part of his campaign promise.
They have been pressing Cayetano to give them the said amount because they voted for him when he ran for senator in the last elections.
But Cayetano clarified that the distribution of P10,000 in direct cash aid to every Filipino family is “a legislative proposal” which needed action from the Senate, the House of Representatives, and Malacañang.
“To those who are bashing me over the 10k ayuda, if I am only capable of giving each one of you P10k, I will do so,” he said.
Due to this, Cayetano committed to immediately file the 10K Ayuda Bill as well his other priority bills in the Senate to get the ball rolling on their approval and eventual implementation.
Speaking at the oath-taking ceremony of Taguig City officials led by his wife Mayor Lani Cayetano, the former House Speaker said contrary to what some of his online bashers are saying, the P10k ayuda is different from the privately funded Sampung Libong Pag-asa program which distributed P10,000 to select beneficiaries from May 1, 2021.
This was stopped in February 2022 in keeping with Comelec guidelines for the conduct of the May elections.
“So ang hinihingi ko po doon sa mga tumutuligsa sa programang Sampung Libong (Pag-asa) during the pandemic, you just help,” he added.
Promising to file the 10K Ayuda Bill in the Senate immediately, Cayetano asked newly sworn-in Taguig-Pateros Rep. Ricardo Cruz Jr. and Taguig 2nd District Rep. Maria Amparo Zamora to also
file the counterpart bill in the House of Representatives.
“Today may I take the opportunity to ask that two of my pet bills, the moral uprightness and the P10k ayuda, bd filed by our partners in Congress,” he said.
As members of the previous Congress, the Cayetanos filed House Bill No. 8597, otherwise known as the 10K Ayuda Bill, on February 1, 2021 calling for the creation of a financial aid program that will
distribute P10,000 to every Filipino family, or P1,500 per family member, whichever amount is higher.
Under the bill, the money that will be given to Filipino families is intended to enable them to buy their basic needs at the moment and cover unpaid bills that may have accumulated over the course of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The cash aid is also meant to serve as seed money for families who would like to start their own small businesses, or revive those that have closed down due to lockdowns.
Despite widespread clamor, Congress failed to pass the P10,000.00 measure as a part of the Bayanihan 3 COVID-19 aid package. Congress also did not include the financial aid program proposed by the 10K Ayuda Bill in the P5-trillion 2022 national budget.
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