(Eagle News)–President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered his economic team to look into the proposal to include the middle-class in the government’s social amelioration program.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the President has directed the team led by Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez to look at ways to source the funds.
So far, the national government’s program only includes poor households.
Congress has approved P275 billion to fund the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, but President Duterte said this was not enough.
Nograles made the announcement after Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla made the proposal, noting that families who “built much” but did not have enough were also affected by the crisis.
He noted that most of the members of this class were law-abiding citizens.
In his public address on Monday, the President agreed with Remulla, and vowed to look for ways to help the middle-class cope as well.
The President has extended the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon to April 30 to ensure a slowdown of the COVID-19 virus.
