A solon is proposing that P1,000 emergency aid be given to middle-income earners amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda, chairman of the House committee on ways and means, said the Universal Basic Income (UBI) approach covers the assistance. It does not only support low-income households but middle-income earners as well.
The lawmaker said the UBI was a part of his recommendation to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) on March 19 and was also included in his letter to President Rodrigo Duterte on March 25.
“I asked the President to consider a basic income approach to distributing the emergency subsidy. Essentially, you distribute 1,000 to 2,000 pesos per head. Bale ang eligibility lang po, basta Pilipino ka at hindi ka mayaman, makakatanggap ka ng tulong (The eligibility is as long as you are a Filipino and you are not rich, you can receive help),” Salceda said in a statement.
“Ang tingin ko po kasi, batay na rin sa mga pag-aaral natin ng welfare systems ng ibang bansa, at batay sa model halimbawa ng COVID subsidy sa America, pinaka-straightforward at simple ang basic income. Walang duplications at walang confusion sa eligibility,” the Salceda added.
(Based on our studies on welfare systems in other countries and based on the COVID subsidy model in the United States, the most straightforward at simplest approach is the basic income. No duplications and confusion on the eligibility.)
P1,000 emergency aid for middle-income earners proposed
Salceda told President Duterte in a letter adopting such a program would be beneficial “for ease of administration, ease of accountability, and to avoid arbitrariness in selecting eligible beneficiaries and sectors.”
“The costs of basic income approximate the P200 billion is projected for the emergency subsidy program. In fact, it may be cheaper. To cover 90 percent of the population would require P198.2 billion. To cover 80 percent would require P176.2 billion,” Salceda said.
“It would not require the kind of data mining required of identifying beneficiaries from existing but disjointed lists,” he added.
The government’s P200 billion budget for the social amelioration program is allocated for the 18 million most deprived families in the country.