Many households across the Philippines are now suffering from the consequences of an enhanced community lockdown. Most families are no longer able to continue with their productive lifestyle as they are temporarily shunned from working. The lockdown also affected several entrepreneurs to close their shops or small-medium business enterprises. The main reason is to prevent the plight of COVID 19 from gaining its momentum to infect several individuals in our community that could cause more havoc within the community. One temporary solution to sustain the basic needs of the public is to provide amelioration assistance from the government.
While most people are happy with the amelioration program, there are some constituents who are not happy with the financial assistance. Alma Aquino is one dissatisfied household with the ongoing amelioration program by the Department of Social Welfare and Development program. Alma said in an interview that the amelioration alone cannot sustain her family's basic needs. Alma hopes there are still other forms of an alternative or additional financial assistance such as increasing the current financial assistance given to all recipients.
The Philippines is under an extended enhanced community quarantine amidst the plague due to COVID 19 pandemic. The country has a soaring number of confirmed cases of the disease across the archipelago that the Department of Health Philippines reports on a daily basis. Since the implementation of lockdown, multiple households across the nation are now mandated to stay at home in order to help the government prevent the spread of infection for at least another two more weeks. The lockdown prompts the business and employment sectors to halt their operations, affecting hundreds of thousands of livelihoods. Here are 3 Facts who is Alma Aquino:
1. She is known in social media as "Aling Alma": In English, the word "Aling" is a title for a woman similar to Miss. One example with reference to the English language is Miss Alma. During the interview, she introduced herself as Alma Aquino. She made several statements and feedbacks regarding the current amelioration assistance by DSWD. Miss Alma is one of the lucky households to receive the amelioration program to sustain her basic needs along with the other members of the household.
2. Alma Aquino is a member of the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4P): The DSWD launched an anti-poor financial assistance program known as the 4p's. The mission is to decrease the incidence of poverty rate in the country by providing monthly financial assistance to the poorest members of the Philippine society. Alma admits she is holding the burden of having no stable job aside from selling snacks to feed her family on a daily basis. DSWD is strictly implementing rules on selecting the recipients of 4p's monthly allowance plus amelioration by the DOLE to prevent fraudulent activities.
3. Php 8,000 is not enough: During the interview by a local reporter, Alma indicates the Php 8,000 amelioration from the DSWD can only last for at least one week. Therefore, she requests for a higher amelioration from the government. Alma has eight children at home whom she needs to feed on a daily basis. Apart from struggling with the household's everyday meal, Alma is also paying a monthly apartment's rent, children's allowance when going to school, and the need to sustain her small snack business.
Taking into consideration, Alma is one of the few who is facing the challenge of being a breadwinner to a family of 10 members. She must work hard in order to bring food to a table whom there are at least 10 members including her to prevent the household from hunger. Alma is carrying another burden of having a limited time purchasing food and other essential things for her business due to an ongoing lockdown. She is not allowed to sell food outdoors as a mandatory policy by the enhanced community quarantine.
Alma hopes people could understand her situation because not all people are lucky to have a silver spoon in their mouth.
While most people are happy with the amelioration program, there are some constituents who are not happy with the financial assistance. Alma Aquino is one dissatisfied household with the ongoing amelioration program by the Department of Social Welfare and Development program. Alma said in an interview that the amelioration alone cannot sustain her family's basic needs. Alma hopes there are still other forms of an alternative or additional financial assistance such as increasing the current financial assistance given to all recipients.
The Philippines is under an extended enhanced community quarantine amidst the plague due to COVID 19 pandemic. The country has a soaring number of confirmed cases of the disease across the archipelago that the Department of Health Philippines reports on a daily basis. Since the implementation of lockdown, multiple households across the nation are now mandated to stay at home in order to help the government prevent the spread of infection for at least another two more weeks. The lockdown prompts the business and employment sectors to halt their operations, affecting hundreds of thousands of livelihoods. Here are 3 Facts who is Alma Aquino:
1. She is known in social media as "Aling Alma": In English, the word "Aling" is a title for a woman similar to Miss. One example with reference to the English language is Miss Alma. During the interview, she introduced herself as Alma Aquino. She made several statements and feedbacks regarding the current amelioration assistance by DSWD. Miss Alma is one of the lucky households to receive the amelioration program to sustain her basic needs along with the other members of the household.
2. Alma Aquino is a member of the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4P): The DSWD launched an anti-poor financial assistance program known as the 4p's. The mission is to decrease the incidence of poverty rate in the country by providing monthly financial assistance to the poorest members of the Philippine society. Alma admits she is holding the burden of having no stable job aside from selling snacks to feed her family on a daily basis. DSWD is strictly implementing rules on selecting the recipients of 4p's monthly allowance plus amelioration by the DOLE to prevent fraudulent activities.
3. Php 8,000 is not enough: During the interview by a local reporter, Alma indicates the Php 8,000 amelioration from the DSWD can only last for at least one week. Therefore, she requests for a higher amelioration from the government. Alma has eight children at home whom she needs to feed on a daily basis. Apart from struggling with the household's everyday meal, Alma is also paying a monthly apartment's rent, children's allowance when going to school, and the need to sustain her small snack business.
Taking into consideration, Alma is one of the few who is facing the challenge of being a breadwinner to a family of 10 members. She must work hard in order to bring food to a table whom there are at least 10 members including her to prevent the household from hunger. Alma is carrying another burden of having a limited time purchasing food and other essential things for her business due to an ongoing lockdown. She is not allowed to sell food outdoors as a mandatory policy by the enhanced community quarantine.
Alma hopes people could understand her situation because not all people are lucky to have a silver spoon in their mouth.
