DEPUTY Speaker and Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez on Thursday expressed his and his constituents’ gratitude to President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte for promising to extend financial aid to them amid the strictest coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown imposed in the city.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said Wednesday that the financial assistance will come in due course for the residents of Cagayan de Oro and other ECQ areas.

“Hindi po kayo nakakalimutan ng Presidente,” Roque said.

“We thank the President for the financial assistance, which will tide our families in the city over the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period. It would be a big help,” Rodriguez said.

Because of ECQ, Rodriguez said city residents are asked to stay in their homes to prevent the spread of the virus and its highly contagious Delta variant.

“They are not able to go out to work. They thus have no income. They are counting on the government to help them,” he said.

The House leader earlier asked the President to extend financial aid amounting to P6,000 to each family in Cagayan de Oro.

He said while the Bayanihan to Heal as One Law or Republic Act No. 11469 mandated financial aid of P6,000 to P8,000 in 2 tranches over 2 months for all low income households in the country, low income families in Cagayan de Oro “received only P6,000 each because the city was not declared under ECQ but only under GCQ (general community quarantine).”

The inter-agency task force (IATF) on pandemic response has placed the city under ECQ after five of 11 Delta variant cases were detected there. An additional one case was found in Misamis Oriental, the province to which Cagayan de Oro belongs.

Upon Rodriguez’s request, an IATF team led by Health Secretary Francisco Duque lll and pandemic response task force chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez has visited the city.

Galvez has also sent to Cagayan de Oro 20,550 vials of Johnson & Johnson vaccine that was donated by the United States. He suggested that the vaccination in CDO be 5,000 daily from the present 3,000 daily.

The Department of Health (DoH) has reported that while the five Delta variant-infected persons in the city had recovered, four of them, along with the one in Misamis Oriental, have tested positive again for COVID-19.

“The reinfections show the severity of the situation in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental. The government should stop the spread of the virus and help our people,” Rodriguez said.