More workers get cash assistance, thank Beng for aid

AT LEAST 2,000 workers from hotel and restaurant, including those from health spas, beauty salons and barbershops thanked Mayor Beng Climaco for the financial aid they received from the local government under the Social Amelioration Program which had helped tens of thousands of people in Zamboanga City most affected by the Covid-19  pandemic.

Mayor Beng Climaco during the distribution of cash aid to workers. (Giana Andrion, Eugene Elnar)

The mayor said more than a thousand workers whose livelihood was severely affected by the health crisis benefited from the program. The latest pay-out was facilitated by the City Social Welfare and Development Office and the City Treasurer’s Office.

“El fondo del Govierno Local ta comparti kita y ta hace kita bira na maga gente quien ta necesita el ayuda. The LSAP forms part of our COVID-19 recovery and rehabilitation efforts,” Climaco said. 

The program has greatly helped members of the different sectors in the community - from tricycle drivers to the elderly – and Climaco said she wanted to give more, especially to the poor, but councilors allied with politicians Celso Lobregat and Manny Dalipe have trashed the Vida Programs last year.

Climaco has previously blamed the opposition councilors for “killing” all the Vida Programs after they removed vital funding in the Executive Budget.  One such project under the program was the Largo Vida, an initiative that Climaco started in 2018 and which she originally intended to expand to over 60,000 beneficiaries.

The mayor identified the opposition councilors as John Dalipe, BG Guingona, Mike Alavar, Litlit Macrohon, Khymer Olaso, Lilibeth Nuño, Cary John Pioc, VP Elago, Gerky Valesco, Jerry Perez and Monsi dela Cruz, who is now deceased. Dela Cruz and the younger Dalipe ran under Climaco’s political party, but eventually broke off ties with the mayor after winning the 2019 polls. 

Former beneficiaries of the Vida program also blamed the opposition for the demise of the project. Even now they are still hoping that the Vida program would resurrect. 

Climaco said the Vida program was really aimed at creating a more lasting and meaningful impact on the lives of all its beneficiaries. She said the actions of the Lobregat and Dalipe allies in the City Council affected some 17,000 senior citizens and all 400 “Vida lifeliners,” including women and those who are out-of-school and mostly breadwinners of their families, who were tapped to tirelessly deliver health assistance door-to-door to every elderly beneficiaries of the Largo Vida.

It was only during the time of Climaco that such pro-poor programs and social services benefitted thousands of senior citizens and the vulnerable sector. (Zamboanga Post)