• THERESA MAE DULMAN
A total of 5,961 sugarcane laborers in Murcia, Negros Occidental affected by the red-striped soft-scale insect (RSSI) infestation will receive P61.5 million in financial aid.
Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office payout team leader Julie Ann Soligo said each recipient will be receiving P10,325.
Soligo said the initial rollout Nov. 12 included recipients from the three large, far-flung barangays of Minoyan, Buenavista, and Canlandog. The next payouts are on Nov. 13 and 17.
Soligo added that the beneficiaries come from the 20 barangays of the town.
In Pontevedra, 7,396 RSSI-hit farmers will also receive a total of P76.36 million in disaster assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Negros Island Region.
The second day of the four-day payout was yesterday, Nov. 12, at the municipal gymnasium.
The assistance aims to provide financial support to farmers, whose livelihoods have been affected by the RSSI infestation, to help them address immediate needs amid the challenges faced by the agricultural sector.
The assistance is under the DSWD-NIR’s P1.9-billion ECT (emergency cash transfer) allocation for farmers and laborers hit by the RSSI infestation across the region. | TMD
