Senate provides P5k to P8k in allowances for poor families in bill for Duterte powers

Both the Senate and the House passed provisions on cash doles for the country's poorest who are expected to bear the brunt of the suspended economic activity due to community quarantines meant to stop the spread of COVID-19.

In the Senate version of the bill seeking to give President Rodrigo Duterte additional powers to fight COVID-19 and address its effects on the country, the measure sought flexibility in the release of emergency subsidies to 18 million low-income Filipino families.

Each low-income household is projected to receive around P5,000 to P8,000 per month for two months from various national government and local government programs, "whether in cash or kind, but mostly food."

"The exact amount is determined in proportion to the minimum wage of their respective region," said Senator Pia Cayetano, the sponsor of Senate Bill No. 1418.

The House version provides for an expanded and enhanced Pantawid Pamilya Program "responsive to the needs of the crisis" and a commodity assistance program.

Under the latter, the Department of Social Welfare and Development may purchase commodities for distribution to the marginalized and informal sector during the duration of the quarantine.

President Rodrigo Duterte has declared an enhanced community quarantine over the entire Luzon to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Work in the public and private sector, except for essential and frontline services, had been suspended to keep citizens in their homes. -NB, GMA News