Manila announces monthly food aid for around 700,000 city families
MANILA, Philippines — Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno on Wednesday launched a monthly food aid program in an effort to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Philippine economy.
The COVID-19 Food Security Program (FSP) is "an initiative that would allow more or less 700,000 families to receive a monthly food subsidy from the local government," Manila's Public Information Office said in a statement.
The monthly food subsidy, Manila PIO added, includes three kilos of rice, 16 pieces of canned goods and eight sachets of instant coffee. According to the local government, some P3 billion has already been allocated for the initiative.
"We will make sure in the city that no family will go hungry," Moreno is quoted as saying in Filipino. "It may be a bold dream, but we will work against the inevitable and hopefully the next few months of the people's poverty will not come."
Moreno also assured the public that public housing projects would continue despite the pandemic. Last week, he signed a deed of absolute sale for the purchase of a P111-million private lot for the city government’s socialized housing program.
Manila PIO said then that the 6,003-square-meter private lot at Pasigline in Sta. Ana would be used for the city's Land for the Landless program for some 600 low-income informal settlers and homeless families.
— Bella Perez-Rubio with reports from Franco Luna
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