CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)--"Bisan mag-MECQ [Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine] na ta, kadtong mga na-identified, qualified and pwedeng mahatagan, kana sila hatagan lang gihapon."

(Even if we [Cagayan de Oro locals] are already under MECQ [Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine], those who were identified, qualified and eligible to receive the cash aid [for ECQ Special Ayuda], will still be given the assistance)

During the Normin COVID-19 Response Task Force press conference, August 13, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)-10 Regional Director Arnel Agabe said since the city was declared under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) for a certain period, residents of Cagayan de Oro as well as Gingoog City are still qualified to receive the financial assistance.

He emphasized though that the distribution of the 'special ayuda' is very challenging to most local government units (LGUs) since they also need to ensure containment of COVID-19 upon handing in the cash assistance. 

For their part, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-10 provides assistance to the LGUs by making sure that the lists of beneficiaries have no duplication. 

"Sa paghatag sa lista gikan sugod sa barangay paingon sa CSWD [City Social Welfare and Development], pinirmahan ni sa mga barangay captains. Ang role sa DSWD is to deduplicate. Pangitaon ang kinsa ang nagdoble-doble nga ngalan. Pagkahuman ug deduplicate, ihatag balik sa local government units ug didto ipangpost ang mga ngalan," Oliver Inodeo of DSWD-10 said.

(The lists from the barangays to CSWD are signed by the barangay captains. DSWD's role is to deduplicate. We will check on the duplicated names, then we return it to the local government units, and the latter will post the names)

Inodeo added that the LGUs took charge of encoding the names of their beneficiaries. For Cagayan de Oro City, affected businesses were given the chance to encode the names of their workers so necessary assistance could be given. 

"Posible nga kulang ang profile sa nidawat mao tong P1,000 lang ang nabutang kay ang mabutang ra man didto, ngalan sa ra man sa ilang empleyado. Wala ma'y ngalan sa sakop sa iyang pamilya," Inodeo said citing possible scenario why a household does not receive appropriate cash aid.

(It is also possible that the profile of the receiver is not complete since their employer might have only encoded the name of their employee. Thus, the beneficiary only receives P1,000 for the entire household since the name of the other household members were not specified)

For complaints and concerns on the distribution of the cash assistance, Inodeo said DILG mobilized a grievance committee to provide speedy response as the LGUs are only given 15 days to complete the distribution.

As of August 12, DSWD-10 already served 57,484 families or 19.49% of the 294,947 total target families in the region with a total disbursement of P171,082,000.

Cagayan de Oro City served 31,182 families with a total disbursement of P89,383,000 while Gingoog City served 26,302 families and disbursed P81,699,000. (RTP/PIA-10)