Drilon on NCR Plus assistance: Give it in cash, not in kind

Published March 30, 2021 04:19 PM By ERWIN COLCOL,GMA News

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon preferred that the assistance to be given to low-income beneficiaries in the NCR Plus area would be in cash rather than in kind.

"Give it in cash, it is simpler," Drilon told ANC in an interview on Tuesday.

President Rodrigo Duterte approved the assistance

that would cover some 22.9 million beneficiaries in Metro Manila and adjacent provinces amid the new restrictions implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

In Duterte's weekly Talk to the People briefing, Budget Secretary Wendell Avisado said a total of 22.9 million low-income individuals would receive P1,000 worth of assistance items under the program.

While he welcomed the provision of assistance to affected Filipinos, Drilon feared that these individuals might only sell the food and non-food items to be given to them.

"If it is in kind, ibebenta rin nila yun (they would just sell it), if that is your premise," he said.

Drilon also raised the logistical issues and possible corruption that could be experienced in the delivery of the assistance in kind.

"The P1,000 ayuda is needed by our hungry countrymen and unemployed countrymen but the instruction that it could be in-kind has its own disadvantages. Number one is the logistic cost," he said.

"Number two, at the local level, my goodness, I don’t know what the commissions are. I can assure you a week from now, you will hear allegations of corruption in the purchase of this ayuda in-kind," he added.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), nevertheless, said it will closely monitor the local government units which had problems with the distribution of the previous Social Amelioration Program (SAP) in the delivery of aid in kind.

The provision of the assistance in kind was prompted by the reimposition of an enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

On Monday, the Philippines reported a record 10,016 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total tally to 731,894. This the highest recorded daily case count since the pandemic began. — DVM, GMA News

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