THE Cebu City Government’s request to be exempted from the spending ban imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) may soon be decided by next week.Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chairman Gerardo Carillo said on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, that the City has already presented all necessary documents to the Comelec.Carillo added that they attended a virtual hearing of Comelec last April 18 and 19 and they were informed that the poll body’s resolution may be released by next week.Last March 25, the Comelec imposed a spending ban to prevent the use of the government’s money in political partisan activities.Due to the ban, the Cebu City Government has halted the distribution of the P5,000 financial aid to the victims of Typhoon Odette (Rai).Carillo said that once the resolution from the Comelec will arrive, the city will resume the distribution of the cash assistance.According to Carillo, those who have not received the cash aid yet should not worry since the City is still processing the names who will be included in the list of beneficiaries.In an interview on Tuesday, April 19, Mayor Michael Rama said that he sees no reason why the Comelec would not approve the request of the city government.“Akong pilosopiya ana, mag unsa man na ang kumpay kung ang kabayo patay na,” said Rama.(My philosophy on that is, what good is the grass if the horse is already dead.) Carillo said the CDRRMC was tasked to spearhead the distribution to avoid any politicking that may happen.In a recent interview, Carillo said the City Council has appropriated an additional P300 million for cash assistance since there are still many who were not able to receive the P5,000 cash aid from the local government unit.The City has already distributed more or less P380 million worth of cash assistance to typhoon victims, said Carillo.