Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.

Residents in enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) can expect to receive the cash aid from the government by next week.

The distribution of the cash dole-out was assured after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) issued on Friday the order for the release of funds that will help tide over locked-down families.

"We expect [the] release of the [special allotment release order (SARO)] today (Friday), so by next week, the [local government units] should be able to start distribution," Malaya had earlier texted The Manila Times.

Malaya said local chief executives have begun to prepare for distributing the cash relief.

Metro Manila went into ECQ on Friday and will stay locked down until August 20.

The government assured it has enough funds for the one-time cash grant, which is P1,000 for an individual and up to P4,000 for a family.

Malacañang has said it can scrounge up to P13.1 billion from the 2020 national budget to finance the cash subsidy for 10.7 million residents in the National Capital Region.

Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said the funds will come from the savings of government agencies, departments and offices.

Malaya said officials of the Department of the Interior and Local Government will sit down with the mayors of Metro Manila on Saturday to find ways of speeding up the distribution of the cash aid.

Also in ECQ until August16 are Laguna province and the cities of Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro.

Also on Friday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) assured the uninterrupted delivery of banking services during the two-week lockdown in the National Capital Region.

In a statement, the BSP said that in line with efforts to maintain banking operations despite alternative work arrangements and heightened lockdown restrictions, it has reminded banks to observe the recommended precautions against the transmission of the coronavirus disease 2019.

It also said that its head office in Manila and Security Plant Complex in Quezon City will operate with a skeleton workforce and shorter work hours.

Some of the country's biggest banks have also posted their operational schedules during the lockdown.

The Bank of the Philippine Islands said select BPI and BPI Family Savings Bank branches nationwide will remain open with shortened business hours.

Security Bank Corp., Union Bank of the Philippines and Philippine National Bank also announced shorter banking hours.

WITH MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO