• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is fast tracking the distribution of P1.1-billion financial assistance to 198,984 typhoon-affected families in Negros Island Region (NIR).
The beneficiaries are from the fourth and fifth districts of Negros Occidental as well as Canlaon City in Negros Oriental, which experienced the devastation of Typhoon Tino in November last year.
DSWD-NIR Regional Director Arwin Razo said on Thursday, Feb. 12 they are enlisting the help of the affected local government units (LGUs) for the distribution of financial assistance under the Emergency Cash Transfer (ECT) program as they lack personnel to do it simultaneously.
The DSWD is giving out P10,325 each to 18,839 families, whose residences were destroyed by the typhoon, and P5,369 each to 180,145 owners of partially damaged houses.
Razo said 1,193 tourism workers, who were affected by the typhoon, will also receive P12.3 million in financial assistance at P10,325 each.
DSWD has initially distributed ECT assistance to some typhoon affected residents in La Castellana, Negros Occidental, almost two months after Typhoon Tino battered central Negros, claiming the lives of 96 individuals while 40 others remain missing.
Razo said they have chosen Hinigaran town as the pilot area for the simultaneous distribution of ECT assistance, wherein the result will be used as basis for the payout in other affected LGUs.
Based on the social media post of Mayor Grace Arceo, the ECT payout was simultaneously held on Thursday at the municipal covered court, Pahilanga National High School in Barangay Miranda, and covered courts of Paticui and Gargato villages.
The amount of damage caused by Typhoon Tino to agriculture and infrastructure in Negros Occidental has reached P1.98 billion, according to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. | GB
