The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) announced today that Pablo victims belonging to the vulnerable groups such as pregnant and lactating mothers, persons with disabilities (PWDs), senior citizens, solo household heads, chronically ill household heads will continue to receive food assistance until end of August, subject to assessment.
This clarifies the earlier statement of the Department that food distribution for all Pablo victims will be until the end of August.
The DSWD said that general food distribution for Pablo victims already ended in June, seven months after typhoon “Pablo” hit the country and severely battered Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley.
DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman explained that after the relief distribution, the early recovery and rehabilitation stages are now being undertaken.
“As we are implementing the services for early recovery such as the Cash-for-Work, there are portions of the Pablo affected population that cannot participate like the said vulnerable groups. Since they are unable to work, they cannot meet their daily food needs. This is why we will continue to provide them with food assistance until end of August,” Secretary Soliman further explained.
According to Secretary Soliman, the DSWD is now also focusing on the implementation of emergency shelter assistance (ESA) and permanent shelter assistance.
ESA is the provision of P10,000 financial assistance or materials equivalent to the said amount to families whose houses were partially damaged by “Pablo.” A total of 73,382 families will benefit from ESA of which 34,917 already received financial assistance under the program. The remaining 22,589 families have yet to receive their financial assistance.
Likewise, a total of 53,106 core shelter units shall be built for families with totally damaged houses. Of this figure, 3,763 units were funded at P70,000 each by various groups and concerned LGUs. Of the remaining 49,343 units, 17,480 will be constructed off-site or in resettlement areas under the National Housing Authority (NHA) while 31,863 will be constructed on-site or in the exact location of the damaged houses under the DSWD.
Apart from the shelter assistance, the DSWD also continues to implement the Cash-for-Work (CFW). The CFW is equivalent to a monthlong intervention that provides cash assistance to beneficiaries in exchange for doing community work. To date, the 52,317 cash-for-work beneficiaries already received their payment for the first ten days. The budget allotment for the remaining 20 days will be used to pay for those who will assist in the construction of the core shelter units. ###
