Pasig City to provide cash aid for poor families excluded from DSWD's coronavirus crisis list

MANILA - Pasig City will provide about P8,000 each for some 113,000 families who were not included in the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD) list of cash aid beneficiaries, Mayor Vico Sotto said Sunday.

Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, DSWD-identified beneficiaries will receive P8,000 twice, but only 93,000 of the 206,000 indigent families in Pasig City were included in the list, Sotto said.

"Lahat po ng hindi mabibigay sa listahan ng DSWD Social Amelioration Program, sasaluhin po ng Lungsod ng Pasig. Hindi sa buong halaga na P16,000 pero kung ano yung kaya, ibibigay natin," the mayor said.

(Pasig City will shoulder all those who were not included in the DSWD's Social Amelioration Program. We cannot match the P16,000 cash aid, but we will give what we can.)

"Medyo magkakaproblema po tayo kung 93,000 lang ang mabibigyan... [Kasi] kung yung kapitbahay niyo nabigyan tapos kayo hindi, baka magkaron ng mga akusasyon na may palakasan," he said.

(We might have a problem if only 93,000 will receive the cash aid because if your neighbor receives it and you don't, there might be accusations that the government is playing favorites.)

The amount of P8,000 per family may still change as the city government is still "studying its cash position," Sotto said.

The city government is in the process of finding cash sources to fund the supplemental cash aid program, the mayor said.

"'Yung pera ng Pasig na nasa trust fund, ilalabas natin... Magsasakripisyo tayo, maghihigpit tayo ng sinturon, may mga programang kakanselahin muna natin," he said.

(We will use the money from Pasig's trust fund... We will have to sacrifice, we will have to tighten our belts, there will have to cancel some programs.)

Sotto said the city government will try its best to provide for all Pasig City residents, but appealed to well-off Pasigueños to decline receiving aid.

"'Yung may kaya naman o yung may savings naman, wag na po kayo kumuha sa Pasig Social Amelioration Program natin," he said.

(For those who are well-off or have savings, please don't get from the Pasig Social Amelioration Program.)

"Hindi naman po ito Christmas gift. Ito po ay tulong sa mga nagugutom o mga magugutom," he said.

(This is not a Christmas gift. This is aid for those who are starving or those who are about to starve.)

Cases will be filed against residents who will try to get more aid than what is due to them, Sotto said.

The city government will start convening barangay officials this week to finalize how the supplemental aid will be distributed in communities, the mayor said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Partial #HalalanResults: Vico Sotto leads Eusebio in Pasig mayoral race

MANILA — Vico Sotto, the son of screen of veterans Vic Sotto and Coney Reyes, was set to topple the decades-long leadership of the Eusebios in Pasig, based on partial and unofficial results for the mayoral race tallied Monday night.

Sotto, a first-term councilor running for Pasig City mayor under Aksyon Demokratiko, was ahead of reelectionist Bobby Eusebio, according NAMFREL Pasig.

Sotto had 63,658 votes, as of the group's 10 p.m. count, while Eusebio trailed by nearly half with 34,127.

Sotto's potential win will see the first change in leadership in Pasig since 1992 — a challenge that has been likened to the Biblical David and Goliath, given the newcomer's self-confessed inability to match the "machinery" of the Eusebio political family.

The 29-year-old — now poised to be the lone, if not one of the few millennial chief executives in Metro Manila — also campaigned without a vice mayor or councilor in his slate.

Owing to his last name and likeness to his film icon-father, Sotto has been a familiar name and face to many even outside Pasig — even as he shunned the idea of following in his parents' footsteps even in his younger years.

While he is backed by household names thanks to his kinship, Sotto focused the messaging of his "Iba Naman" campaign on key issues he has promised to address, including healthcare, corruption, and the disparity of wealth and opportunities between the eastern and western parts of Pasig.

source: news.abs-cbn.com