Ex-Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano is urging President Rodrigo Duterte to approve the P10,000-cash aid per family at the soonest, saying the late distribution of aid would only defeat the purpose of the enhanced community quarantine and could lead to another surge in COVID-19 cases.
“We are glad that the government has already started the distribution of P4,000 each family,” he said.
He described the defeat of the purpose for an early release of the P10,000 aid as a “circuit breaker” for the pandemic, during which people must not leave their homes.
He made the statement during a Facebook livestream of the “Sari-Saring Pag-Asa” program with his allies last Aug. 11, during which a total of 90 variety store owners received P3,500 each as added capital for their business.
Since their filing of the 10K Ayuda Bill on Feb. 1, Cayetano and his allies in Congress have been pushing for the passage of a P10,000-cash aid per family to help them purchase their basic needs while having enough left to put up their own micro-enterprise amid the pandemic.
The bill was procedurally considered under the House-approved Bayanihan 3, but the P10,000 cash aid provision was not adopted.
He cited the National Economic Development Authority that the Philippine economy would lose in a week of ECQ the same amount as needed to provide P10,000 in cash aid per Filipino family anyway.