The city government of Dumaguete has extended a total of P2 million in burial assistance to 400 beneficiaries from last year and part of 2013, resulting in depleted funds for the same purpose for the current year.
Depeltion of funds is being attributed to a spike in the number of deaths in the locality in recent years with many residents seeking financial assistance.
Faced with the predicament, still on Friday, Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria led the distribution of P5,000 cash assistance each to 73 beneficiaries, the last of the six batches since January this year, that were given such aid.
Majority of recepients were applicants who seek the burial assistance from January 1 to December 31, 2014 but whose requests were put on hold while about 50 of them dates back to November and December of 2013, said Syril Repe of the city public information office.
Repe said, the city exhausted its P1-million budget last year had to ask for supplemental allotmentt from the city council. Many more were awaiting help and had only received it this year.
He disclosed Dumaguete allocated P2 million this year for burial assistance but this early, it has exhausted the money to cater to constituents.
Meanwhile, the mayor announced he will be requesting the city council for a supplemental budget by the middle of this year for those asking for burial assistance from January to June of 2015.
(A portion of Dumaguete City at night, Image credit: from the official city website)
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