No funds yet for proposed 2-week ECQ in NCR – Palace

Malacañang admitted Thursday that the national government has no budget yet for the proposed two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region (NCR).

“We assure the Mayors that we are closely monitoring the Delta variant. We are employing whole of nation approach. Hindi basta basta puede mag-ECQ sa Metro Manila. Hindi ko po alam kung meron tayong ayudang maibibigay,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said.

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“60 percent of our GDP (gross domestic product) is from NCR Plus 8. Under a complete lockdown, people will lose jobs. Habang tayo ay nasa moderate risk, hayaan po muna natin magtrabaho ang ating mga kababayan,” Roque added.

The NCR Plus 8 is composed of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Batangas, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.

NCR will be kept in general community quarantine or GCQ with heightened restrictions until Aug. 15, though some researchers and businessmen suggest putting it under tighter lockdown.

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“We have doctors, epidemiologists, political scientists. We welcome well meaning suggestions pero huwag sanang balewalain ang ginagawa ng gobyerno (The efforts of the government cannot be disregarded here),” Roque said.

No funds yet for proposed 2-week ECQ in NCR – Palace

“Hindi po sila magre-recommend ng makakasama sa atin (They will not make a recommendation that will harm us),” Roque added.

Meanwhile, the national government’s running debt balance further balloons to a new record-high of P11.166 trillion as of end-June 2021, widening by P95 billion or 0.9% from P11.071 trillion as of end-May 2021.

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The government’s end-June outstanding debt slightly grew by 0.9% or P94.91 billion from the end-May level of P11.071 trillion.

Year-on-year, the debt stock rose by 23.3% from P9.054 trillion as of end-June 2020.

Meanwhile, Malacañang announced that the families in areas under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) would receive a cash aid of P1,000 to P4,000.

According to Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, the cash aid is under the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations.

“Nariyan na po ang assistance na sinabi ng Pangulo (Rodrigo Duterte); dinadownload na po sa LGUs (local government units),” Roque said.

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