LAST week, about seniors baking at home.
This week, about the exceptional amongst us all, senior or no.
Watching Abby.
It was on GMA News that this column first heard of Makati City Mayor Abby Binay’s May 11 announcement that each qualified resident of the city she heads would receive cash assistance worth P5,000 as part of their economic relief program. “Qualified” there means any and every resident of Makati who is 18 and above — rich, poor, in-between, as long as that person is already a “Makatizen” card holder as of the announcement (not sure if non-card-carrying Makati residents qualify). The assistance is also given to those in Makati-run relocations sites in Bulacan and Laguna.
The good lady mayor went on TV to clarify that yes, if there are five members in a household who qualify, then yes, that household would receive P40,000. So, if two parents, their child, their maid, and their driver all qualify, they all each get the P5,000. This caused me to applaud even as I watched Abby Binay on TV and my niece Tammy to wonder out loud on Facebook, how to move to Makati?
Watching Gaby (rhymes with Abby).
On May 7, Philippine Information Agency reported that one of the municipal governments of Mountain Province, Sadanga, under the aegis of Mayor Gabino Gangganan, returned some P1.47 million to the Cordillera Office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-CAR) after said municipality was reportedly done with distributing social amelioration program (SAP) financial assistance to the qualified beneficiaries of the town.
DSWD-CAR director Leo Quintilla said in a meeting on May 6 that Sadanga is the first local government unit in the region among those that have already completed their payout to return unutilized SAP funds.
Sadanga drew even earlier praise as the only LGU in CAR that waived the family food packs from DSWD in favor of the more needy urban areas, with Mayor Gaby demonstrating a solid strength he is actually rather famous for. He pointed out — pithily, if you ask me — that the wealthy families of his town are quite capable of taking care of the less fortunate amongst them, in what I would call true Igorot fashion.
Then there was another mayor who on TV said something like “...wag nang i-re-pack yung bigas, ibigay nalang buong sako...” We forget who that was.
Watching Benjie (rhymes with Gaby, Abby).
Closer to home, we laud the manner with which Baguio City’s own mayor has managed our ECQ with discipline, care, firmness. With Baguio’s shift to a GCQ that begins this very weekend itself, let us together watch ourselves, take care, take what the mayor has referred to as “baby steps” and without haste. This war is far from over.