City releases P105 million remaining Odette aid

CEBU, Philippines — After a tedious revalidation, the remaining 20,000 residents whose houses had been affected by super typhoon Odette on December 16, 2021 will finally get their financial assistance, no less than Mayor Michael Rama announced yesterday.

At least P105 million financial assistance is due for distribution to the typhoon victims.

Of the amount, the city government will first release around P33 million.

During the flag-raising ceremony yesterday, Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) chief, Dr. Ester Concha, said the distribution is expected to begin today.

However, Concha told The Freeman that the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) was still finalizing the venues where the assistance will be distributed as of press time.

Each of the homeowners of Cebu City whose houses were damaged, either totally or partly would get a uniform amount of P5,000 each.

Earlier, the Commission on Audit (COA) had observed some irregularities concerning the financial assistance.

The city government under Rama, however, took note of some irregularities and acted on complaints in the manner of distribution and validation even before the COA annual reports were released.

Based on the COA reports, the City Accounting Department has already disbursed a total of P791.835 million to 158,367 beneficiaries.

COA also noted the delay in the distribution to which the city government responded by finally distributing the remaining amount set aside for it. — (FREEMAN)