Marcos leads distribution of cash aid in Negros Occ.

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  • CHERYL G. CRUZ

Senator Imee Marcos arrived in Negros Occidental Tuesday to distribute P3,000 each to beneficiaries of the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS), in a ceremony held at the Manuel Y. Torres Memorial Coliseum and Cultural Center in Bago City.

Marcos said that P6 million in AICS assistance was allotted to a total of 2,000 beneficiaries in the 4th District of Negros Occidental, to help Negrenses severely affected by typhoons and other crisis.

La Carlota City Social Welfare and Development officer Angie Gelongo, AICS focal person, said there were 1,000 recipients of the cash assistance Tuesday, Nov. 29, including 500 from Bago City, and the rest from other towns and cities in the 4th District.

Senator Imee Marcos gives nutri-buns to kids in a ceremony in Bago City Nov. 29, attended by Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer, Bago Mayor Nicholas Yulo, other officials of the 4th District of Negros Occidental, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, among others. | Bago PIO photo

The distribution was also attended by Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer, mayors Nicholas Yulo of Bago, Dr. Rex Jalando-on of La Carlota, and Jose Maria Alonso of Pontevedra, 4th District Board Members Andrew Martin Torres and Jose Benito Alonso, councilors, and other officials.

Marcos also urged officials to avail of the P5-million in agricultural assistance allotted to each local government unit. “Kasi maraming nasira na ani no’ng bagyo, it’s very important na ma-compensate natin ang mga farmer. Ayaw nating pumasok sa tuyong pasko, sa gutom na pasko…tulong-tulong in the meantime, ayuda muna, konting food packs, pero ang tutumbukin natin ang trabago talaga.”

She also distributed fortified bread or nutri-buns to kids, noting that due to the coronavirus disease and its aftermath, “there’s been a great increase in the number of poor and malnourished children.”

Bago Mayor Yulo told reporters later that aside from the affordable and nutritious nutri-buns that the senator is pushing, Bago could also come up with its own version of the Kadiwa market initially rolled out by the Marcos administration in the National Capital Region and select areas in the Visayas and Mindanao.

He said the city has a cooperative that could take up the challenge of operating a store where goods are sold at lower cost, adding that Bago will also immediately avail of the DA assistance./CGC