Philippines: Coronavirus aid: Too little, too slow, too politicized

Submitted by mmarquez on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 15:02
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rappler.com (15.04.2020) Just like many COVID-19 patients fighting for their lives, what the Philippine economy needs right now is a sturdy ventilator for life support. But at the rate government is distributing aid, our economy’s ventilator seems dismally broken. On March 25, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act. This chiefly authorized him to marshal resources to fight COVID-19. That law also mandated government to hand out disaster relief. Specifically, it provided for a monthly “emergency subsidy” to help tide over 18 million households whose incomes and livelihoods have been diminished (or totally swept away) by the pandemic. But this aid program, no matter how well-meaning, is too little, too slow, and too politicized.

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