President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to submit to Congress on Monday his ninth report on the special powers granted to him to address the COVID-19 crisis.
In his eighth report last week, the president said nearly 17 million indigent families had already received cash aid ranging from ₱5,000 to ₱8,000 from the government. Some 900,000 of the target beneficiaries, however, have yet to receive financial assistance.
Some 2.65 million small business employees, meanwhile, had received the first payout of their ₱5,000 to ₱8,000 subsidy, according to the previous report.
Malacañang also had formally ordered the inclusion of five million more beneficiaries in the second wave of cash aid for poor families, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 23 million households.
The government retracted its proposal to only give cash aid to families under enhanced community quarantine. Its current policy is to also consider families under the more relaxed general community quarantine.
Much of the country is under GCQ, while Cebu City and Mandaue City are under ECQ. Metro Manila and the provinces of Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and Zambales are under MECQ — considered as a transition phase toward the more relaxed GCQ.
Duterte is also expected to give updates on his administration’s spending on programs to address the ongoing crisis, which is partly funded by realignments from savings within the executive department.
Through the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act passed late March, Congress granted Duterte additional powers to address the COVID-19 crisis, requiring him to report back to the legislature every week with updates on how his administration is handling the pandemic.
