City gets P1.856 billion in Covid-19 funds
The city government got more than P1.856 billion in cash and donations in kind for the city’s Corona Virus Disease (COVID) 2019 response over the past two years.
City Budget Officer Leticia Clemente disclosed that the various offices of the city were able to get a total of P1.259 billion in cash and donations in kind aside from the P432.24 million sourced out from local funds and the P164.13 million funding from the national government during the period.
She reported that the P1.259 billion cash and donations in kind coursed through the various offices of the city government were composed of vaccines that accounted for P1.117 billion or 88.7 percent; supplies such as medical, office, among others, valued at P128.2 million or 10.2 percent; cash assistance amounting to P11.4 million or 0.9 percent, and food amounting to P2.6 million or 0.2 percent.
Clemente added that donations in kind received by the various offices of the city government were valued at P1.248 billion while the cash donations amounted to P11.4 million.
Further, the city budget officer revealed that the P432.24 million city funds came from the city’s Supplemental Budget No. 1 or Ordinance No. 30-2021 amounting to P195 million; Supplemental Budget No. 4 or Ordinance No. 92-2021 amounting to P94.29 million; 2022 current appropriations amounting to P74.9 million; 2020 disaster risk reduction fund, particularly the 70 percent earmarked for preparation, prevention and mitigation programs, with a total amount of P41.1 million; 2021 DRRM fund amounting to P15.8 million and 2021 DRRM, particularly the 30 percent quick response fund with an amount of P10.9 million.
On the other hand, she stipulated that the P164.12 million funding came from the 2021-2022 payment to the city by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) of its COVID-19 package as of May 31, 2022 which is equivalent to more than P79.9 million; 2020 Bayanihan grant to cities and municipalities amounting to P78.1 million; 2021 donation from the Office of the President amounting to P5 million and 2021 Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) trust fund with a total amount of P1.04 million.
The city government department head noted that the amount of P22.8 million from the Cordillera office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-CAR) were donated by a number of politicians and national government agency officials in 2021.
Moreover, this amount was disbursed by the City Social Welfare and Development Office to some 4,247 constituents of the city as part of the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program of the national government.
However, City Treasurer Alex Covarrubias said that the city issued official receipts to more than P3.2 million cash donations that had been donated by concerned individuals and groups. Clemente explained that the city’s local finance committee is still consolidating the reports from various offices for the body to have a complete picture of the COVID-19 response funds that were given and utilized by the city government over the past 2 years. – Dexter A. See
