DBM: Gov't to distribute P500 monthly ayuda to poor households for 3 months

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Wednesday said that financial constraints limit the government's support to poor households to P500 each month for a maximum of three months.

“Limitado rin naman ang ating revenue collection. Kung tutuusin kasi, iyong lahat ng mga revenue collections natin, mayroon nang pagtutuunan na gastos,” DBM officer-in-charge Tina Rose Marie Canda said during the Laging Handa virtual briefing.

(Our revenue collection is limited. After all, all the revenues collected have already been allocated.)

According to Canda, the financial assistance will have 13 million beneficiaries and will run for three months, translating to a large amount for an unprogrammed project.

“Sa isang hindi inaasahang programa o proyekto, malaki ang dapat itapat mong pondo para diyan.  So, gustuhin man naming magbigay sana nang mas malaki, hindi magawa,” she said.

(A large amount is needed to finance an unprogrammed program or project like this, so even if we want to give more, we are unable to do so.)

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday ordered that the monthly financial assistance be increased from P200 to P500 as the country has recorded successive hikes in the pump prices of petroleum products and other basic commodities.

Prices of petroleum products have been on an increase in 11 of the last 12 weeks due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has affected global prices.

Oil firms implemented a rollback on Tuesday, but this will not be enough to offset the 11 weeks of successive hikes, as these are lower than the increase implemented in the past week alone. — VBL, GMA News