DELAYS in the release of the P5,000 cash aid to Typhoon Odette victims in Cebu City were due to some needed “retuning” on its budget allocation.

This was what City Social Welfare Services (CSWS) chief Portia Basmayor said when reporters asked her on the matter on Friday, January 21, 2022.

Basmayor said they still have to retune the budget for the financial assistance since this was appropriated in 2021 and had to be obligated.

She said the funds intended for the more than 100,000 beneficiaries would be returned to the city’s general fund if these would not be retuned.

Basmayor, however, said they had already initially distributed some of the financial assistance in 18 of the city’s 80 barangays.

As of the moment, the City Accounting Office and City Budget Office are still processing the retunement of the funds for the next 14 barangays which is expected to be released next week, Basmayor added.

She said once they completed the list of all the beneficiaries, they will forward it to the City Treasurer’s Office for budget allocation.

Basmayor said she already submitted at least 16,479 beneficiaries who will receive the P5,000 financial assistance to the National Housing Authority, but she said only 2,000 of them are going to receive the P5,000 financial assistance since the budget available is only P10 million, while the rest will have to wait for the next distribution schedule. (PAC / TPT)