Capitol’s Aid to LGUs Ready Today

Local government units (LGUs) can already get their financial assistance checks at the Capitol on April 2, 2020.

The Cebu Provincial Government allocated a total of P373,200,000 cash aid for its seven component cities and 44 municipalities while the province is under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

The amount will be distributed according to the population and income class of the towns and cities.

“If dato nga LGU, mubo-mubo ang assistance per capita (person). Og mas naglisud, taas-taas per capita,” she said.

The cash aid will be used by the mayors to purchase basic needs like rice, corn, canned goods, cooking oil, powdered milk, coffee, instant noodles, iodized salt, soaps, detergents, and bleaching powders for the distribution of its constituents.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia reminded the mayors to distribute the relief goods fairly according to prioritization.

Those who are poor, displaced workers, and senior citizens should be prioritized, she said.

Persons under monitoring, who have no means of income because of the mandatory 14-day quarantine must be included in the priority list also, she added.

In procuring relief goods, Garcia stated that proper guidelines must be followed to ensure that the people’s money are judiciously spent.

“Under this present condition, the normal and usual way of procurement has been set aside kay emergency man but we want to be as transparent as possible,” the governor said.

“I have instructed our department heads that all prices in the procurement of the items that we are distributing to our LGUs should be posted to show nga mao na ang pagpalit,” she added.

Garcia will send to the LGUs the guidelines of the essential items to be bought and their corresponding price ceilings determined by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 7.

The Provincial Price Monitoring Council adopted the price ceiling set by DTI 7 through its resolution.

Meanwhile, the Cebu Provincial Board members will be allocating P4 million each to purchase rice for their districts out of their respective P10 million Legislative Assistance Funds (LAF).

“Naa tay supplier na contact para pagpalit og imported (rice) na, kay ang NFA (National food Authority) naglisod na. Ang price is less than P2,000,” Garcia said.

She added that the rice will be purchased from Vietnam at P1,850 per sack minus six percent withholding tax. It is considered a premium rice with a price ceiling of P38 to P50 per kilo. (SN)