When the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act or Republic Act 11469 was signed on 24 March 2020 by President Rodrigo Duterte, a Bayanihan Grant package was included.
In Bayanihan Grant, cities and municipalities are to receive financial grant equivalent to their one-month Fiscal Year 2020 Internal Revenue Allotment share. This was announced by Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Ano, April 7.
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Occidental Mindoro with its eleven (11) municipalities received a total of P199,000,872.00. And the Municipality of Magsaysay under Mayor Cesar Tria got P13,180,619.00.
At the start of Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in the country, Occidental Mindoro local government units (LGUs) and barangays were made to use their Quick Response Fund (QRF) to provide food relief assistance to their constituents. With disaster funds at the brink of depletion, the LGUs turned to their 20% Development Fund.
But the pandemic is on the lose. Numbers of Covid-19 positive cases kept on pushing the curve up to the ceiling. And so does the quarantine continues.
Having received their Bayanihan Grant, LGUs were able to provide their people 2nd to 3rd wave of food assistance depending on how the financial assistance was allocated.
And again, the Municipality of Magsaysay did their part.
Still riding the clouds with 85 close contacts of 26 Covid-19 positive construction workers negative of the virus, Mayor Cesar Tria went on to thrill the public with the publication of documents showing how his administration utilized their Bayanihan Grant, June 6.
As of this writing, the Municipality of Magsaysay is the first among Occidental Mindoro municipalities to lay down papers in public view where and how its P13,180,619.00 was spent in the fight against Covid-19.
Based on the documents posted by Bayan ng Magsaysay, Occidental Mindoro Facebook page, P2,000,000.00 is allocated for Personal Protective Equeipment (PPEs). The LGU has already disbursed P499,000.00 for it. Thus, it is still an “on-going” process.
The house-to-house distribution of welfare goods to affected households got the lion share at P8,800,000.00. By far, they have completed the distribution as of April 2020.
They have also completely disbursed by April 2020 the total amount of P1,000,000.00 for “tents and other equipment for the use of personnel involved in Covid-19 operations”.
With the quarantine still up, the fight against Covid-19 goes on. Frontliners haven’t gotten some rest yet. And the LGU is still in the process of utilizing the allotted P1,000,000.00 for the frontliners’ food, transportation, accommodation and other. There still remain P293,755.40 from the budget, having used up a total of P706,244.60.
Meanwhile, P159,081.85 has been obligated our of P13,180,619.00 allotment for “fuel, oil, and lubricants for Covid-19 operations”.
The document published was signed by the following:
- Municipal Mayor Cesar M. Tria, Jr.
- Municipal Budget Officer Celia Punzalan
- ICO – Municipal Treasurer Evelyn R. Fronda
- MPDC Jesus Venturanza
With Mayor Cesar Tria and Municipality of Magsaysay already on the lead, we hope that other municipalities will follow suit.
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Article cover photo courtesy of Bayan ng Magsaysay, Occidental Mindoro Facebook page.