THE chief of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Thursday said the DSWD is set to roll out a financial-assistance program for the recovery of persons displaced by the conflict in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.
In a news briefing, Social Welfare Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo said the DSWD was able to distribute an initial P1,000 cash assistance to the evacuees situated in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte, as requested by the local officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
“We have started the distribution of P1,000 to each [family]. All of the families will be provided that,” Taguiwalo added.
The initial P1,000 cash was on top of the P4,000 assistance that the DSWD will be giving out to the affected families once the conflict has been put out by security forces.
“Another P4,000 per family has been budgeted already. Once they are allowed to go back to Marawi City, [this will be distributed] to help them start anew,” Taguiwalo said.
The DSWD, under Taguiwalo, was one of the quickest to respond to the crisis in Marawi City, which erupted on sundown of May 23. Tracing back to May 26, the DSWD has spent P294 million for food items, nonfood items and hygiene kits distributed to the evacuees, Taguiwalo added.
She said this amount will continue to soar, as the DSWD is on the process of procuring family-sized tents to serve as temporary shelters of the evacuees.
“We have started the procurement three weeks ago in preparation for the return of our evacuees to Marawi City, and we hope to provide individual tents per family,” Taguiwalo added.
“Although we have problems with the procurement because the bidding has failed as of Thursday, we’re still fast-tracking it. We’re prepared for that,” the DSWD chief noted.
The DSWD is targeting to purchase 69,000 tents to cover all families affected by the conflict.
Good thing though, Taguiwalo said, the private sector is lending its hand in bringing aid to the evacuees. According to Taguiwalo, a number of corporations had given their word in carrying out the humanitarian aid to the displaced persons.
“Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific have both offered free transportation of our goods to Iligan City via their cargo service. San Miguel Foundation has offered toll-free passage of our cargo trucks going to Mindanao in the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road and the South Luzon Expressway,” Taguiwalo added.
The DSWD chief vowed her agency will continue to assist the displaced persons until they recover from the tragedy of the conflict.
Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto C. Abella said there “was no update yet” from the Office of the executive secretary as to the draft executive order (EO) on the recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation of Marawi City. The draft EO was pending President Duterte’s signature for two weeks now.