Government aids 1,542 vendors affected by ASEAN meet

MANILA, Philippines — Road closures within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit venues have prompted the government to dole out a one-time cash aid of P10,000 to over 1,500 affected vendors.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) yesterday provided cash aid to 1,462 vendors, most of whom work in Baclaran, Parañaque.

This is on top of 30 beneficiaries along Diokno Boulevard who received cash on Sunday and 50 more Pasay vendors on Wednesday, bringing the total recipients to 1,542.

DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian supervised the cash distribution to vendors whose livelihoods were affected by security measures for the Asean meet.

Another 800 people from Pasay will receive cash aid today, according to DSWD spokesperson Irene Dumlao.

Groups such as the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa have pressed the government to help employees in establishments that have been closed since Oct. 29 to make way for the ASEAN Summit.

While the cash distribution will continue today, Dumlao said it remains “subject to assessment.”

“We will monitor the vendors’ situation in coordination with the local government units,” Dumlao told The STAR.

The DSWD is also working with LGUs to rescue families living on the streets through the Pag-Abot program.

Pasay, for instance, brought street dwellers on Wednesday to temporary shelters.

The government has been accused of concealing poverty in the metropolis just because foreign dignitaries will be arriving in Manila for the ASEAN Summit.

ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio said the “script has not changed” between President Marcos and his father, former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

“Hide the poor, polish the pavement and deceive the world,” Tinio said in a statement on Monday.

Anti-Trump protests

For progressive groups such as Akbayan Youth, US President Donald Trump is not welcome in the Philippines.

About 30 protesters marched to Trump Tower in Makati yesterday, with some wearing wigs imitating the US President’s blond hair.

They expressed dismay over Trump’s immigration policies and called for the rejection of the proposed Pax Silica initiative, which will put semiconductor factories in New Clark City in Tarlac.

“Our message to Donald Trump is that if Americans rejected you, we Filipinos, especially the youth, will reject you too,” Khylla Meneses, national president of Akbayan Youth, said, referring to the overwhelming defeat of Trump’s party in last week’s US midterm elections.

Trump will attend the ASEAN Summit on Nov. 17, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

This is the second time that the business tycoon and former television host will visit the Philippines as US president.