If you live in Pasig City and you're an LGBTQIA+ couple, you are eligible for supplemental aid during the pandemic, Mayor Vico Sotto made sure of it in written instructions. It's another indication of the conscious effort from the young leader to make government services more inclusive.
LGBTQIA+ partners with children, whether their own or adopted, are considered "families" and are eligible for the local government's supplemental social amelioration program of P8,000 per household, Sotto said in a memorandum dated June 22.
Also eligible are nuclear or traditional families; solo parents, widows and widowers who have custody of their children; and grandparents who are taking care of their grandchildren, according to the memo.
The national government has its own cash aid program called SAP. While the lockdown was eased on July 1 after 11 weeks, restrictions remain and not everyone can return to work. Some businesses were also forced to close and unemployment rose based on the most recent tally last April, which showed that some 7 million Filipinos were jobless.
