Saying that aid should travel faster than the virus, Sen. Grace Poe urged concerned government agencies to go on round-the-clock operations so that the first installment of the P200 billion financial aid to poor families will reach them in hours or the latest before weekend.
Poe said that this is the only way to prevent “mass hunger from turning into mass anger.”
“I understand the logistics in organizing this cash transfer to 18 milllion families but time is of the essence so we must step on the gas,” Poe said.
She said the Department of Social Welfare and Development must start distribution as soon as possible to the poorest households while the masterlist for the rest of the beneficiaries is being generated, and provide a clear timeline when the remainder of the subsidy will be distributed.
“The profiling and validation of the list of beneficiaries for 18 million families will understandably take time. But we cannot be waiting for lists while the people go hungry.”
Poe said “millions of cooking pots are now empty and they need to be replenished. The grumbling that is hard to ignore is the one coming from the stomachs of our people.”
“The best way to defuse the tension is for people to see that cash is being handed out. There is no great pacifier than having the means to buy food and other essentials,” Poe stressed.
Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, 18 million families are targeted to receive an emergency subsidy ranging between P5,000 to P8,000.
