Financial aid for cities, towns

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu provincial government will be downloading financial aid to its constituent cities and municipalities amid the implementation of movement restrictions that comes with the enhanced community quarantine.

This was announced by Governor Gwendolyn Garcia during a press conference yesterday, March 31, at the Provincial Capitol.

An initial budget of P376M for financial aid will be sourced from the budget allocated for the assistance for local government units (LGU) appropriated in the province's P12B annual 2020 budget.

She added that the amount of financial aid budgeted per person per town will be stratified based on income and population.

"Ang matag LGU dili parihas og popuation, dili parihas og gidaghanon sa ilang mga constituents. Ikadhua, naka-recognize pud ta nga ang ubang LGUs mas dato kaysa uban. And they are categorized by their income class,’ Garcia said.

"Sa kadtong mas pobre nato nga LGUs, mas dako ang atong gigahin. Ug kadtong mas dato, mas gamay. In accordance with population," she added.

More specifically, a budget of P50 per person has been allocated to first to fourth class cities while P100 has been allocated for fifth to sixth-class cities under the jurisdiction of the province.

Budget per person

Meanwhile, P100 per person is budgeted per person in first class municipalities, P150 for second to third-class municipalities and P200 for 4th to 5th-class municipalities.

Garcia said she has decided to download cash assistance instead of supplies to the cities and municipalities so the local government units can purchase the basic needs of their constituents based on their respective situations.

"We decided to give them cash aron sila na mismo, matagaan sila ug flexibility nga diha-diha makapalit sa kinahanglan nga mga basic necessities sa ilang constituents," she explained.

The class ranking of the cities and municipalities will still be reviewed by the Office of the Provincial Treasurer to make sure that the financial aid is equitably allocated.

Once the review is done, local government chiefs can then expect the immediate distribution of the cash assistance. Garcia estimated it will be ready by Wednesday or Thursday this week.

Garcia said there is no need for a supplemental budget at this point in time.

The Province of Cebu was put under enhanced community quarantine last March 27. Restrictions on movements became effective last Monday, March 30.  JMO (FREEMAN)