13.6M Filipino families going hungry due to delayed gov't emergency subsidy —IBON exec

Around 13.6 million low-income Filipino families are on the verge of starving due to the delayed distribution of the government's emergency cash assistance, more than a month after the enhanced community quarantine disrupted their livelihoods, according to Sonny Africa of independent think tank IBON Foundation.

"Millions of Filipino families are going hungry five weeks into the military lockdown. Instead of dropping everything and feeding everyone, the Duterte government would rather use 'martial law-like' measures to contain mounting social unrest," Africa, IBON's executive director, said in a Facebook post Tuesday.

"It's the curve of social assistance that seems to be flattening," he added.

Africa pointed out that even with emergency powers granted to the chief executive, less than one in four or only 24% of the 18 million target beneficiaries have been reached by the P5,000 to P8,000 cash subsidy, based on President Rodrigo Duterte's fourth weekly report to Congress.

"Bureaucratic hurdles and inefficiencies have resulted in only a few hundred thousand more getting relief after the one big wave of 3.7 million beneficiaries three weeks ago," Africa said.

In a table, he showed that only 617,141 families, who are not part of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), have been reached in addition to the initial 3.7 million 4P families who first received the cash aid.

Further, Africa said that only 237,653 or 2.2% of 10.7 million formal workers; 178,549 or 3.4% of 5.2 million informal earners; and 353,037 or 3.6% of the 9.7 million farmers and fisherfolk have benefited from other programs under the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Agriculture.

"These are just fractions of the millions suffering the worst de facto mass unemployment in the country's history," he said.

The entire Luzon has been placed under an enhanced community quarantine until April 30—closing establishments and suspending mass transportation—to limit population movement and prevent the further spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Other areas in the country also adopted the strict confinement measures.

Africa stressed that Duterte's "criminal neglect" in the past five weeks causes more than just hunger and suffering for the less fortunate.

"It's also the biggest cause of quarantine violations which erode the benefits of the lockdown. A lockdown that is most of all, as ever, borne by the poor," he said.

In a bid to address the projected health and economic impact of the health crisis, the Congress passed the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act last month. The measure aims to ensure that there will be no impediments in the release of the government budget for COVID-19 response.

However, the respective database of beneficiaries at the local government level showed that there are more families in need than the initial 18 million families estimated target by the national government for the P200 billion cash aid. --KBK, GMA News