70% of Makati beneficiaries claim ayuda

MANILA, Philippines — Around 70 percent of Makati residents qualified to receive financial assistance during the two-week enhanced community quarantine have claimed their ayuda, the city government reported yesterday.

As of Thursday, around 262,000 of qualified beneficiaries received their ayuda, which was distributed through electronic wallet system Gcash, according to city government spokesman Michael Camiña.

The national government allotted P511,984,000 to Makati, according to Mayor Abby Binay. Each beneficiary could claim P1,000 to P4,000.

The areas placed under ECQ – particularly Metro Manila from Aug. 6 to 20 – have been ordered by the national government finish the payout during the ECQ period.

Binay said residents who were skeptical about using GCash became convinced to use it when the city government launched last year its own cash aid program that gave P5,000 to each of the city’s residents, she said in a previous interview.

“That has in a way forced them to have a GCash account… You can decide not to have GCash but you have to wait for manual payout, hindi ka priority kung wala kang GCash,” she added.

Sending the cash aid to virtual wallets caused no hassle to both the recipient and to the city government, she also said.