Bacoor City Mayor Lani Mercado-Revilla asked the national government and private sectors to help her city as they’re already expecting a shortage of budget to feed their constituents amid the enhanced community quarantine being implemented in Luzon.
While their current supply of relief goods was sufficient, Mercado-Revilla admitted that their calamity fund was not enough to feed 100,000 families living in Bacoor City during the whole period of the calamity.
“Six months ang state of calamity, sa totoo lang we have, sa huli naming community-based monitoring system 100,000 households sa buong Bacoor, imaginin niyo po kung ‘yan po ng relief sa loob ng isang buwan, kulang na ang amin pong disaster funds,” Mercado-Revilla said.
“Sa tulong national government, sa tulong po ng private sector hinihingi rin po namin ang tulong nila dahil limitado po talaga ang ating calamity funds,” she added.
Bacoor is currently under city-wide lockdown due to the reported cases of COVID-19 in the city.
Aside from Revilla, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte also asked the national government for additional budget to feed 400,000 families in her territory.
“Sa ika-apat na linggo, medyo magkukulang na po ang pondo ng lungsod, sapagkat ang quick response fund po natin ay mauubos na, at ang halaga nito ay P400-M lang ata, and we have other things to take care of katulad hospital equipment,” Belmonte said.
“We are now appealing to the DSWD, national government na sana tulungan naman nila kami sa lungsod ng Quezon,” she added.
However, a Senator suggested that the national government should prioritize the poorer places in the Philippines instead of giving additional budget to cities.