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[av_heading heading=’ We’re not keeping ‘Yolanda’ fund – DSWD’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Monday, July 3, 2017
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ILOILO City – In a disaster so vast such as the one super typhoon “Yolanda” caused in 2013, rebuilding devastated communities would take years, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region 6.
Director Rebecca Geamala denied her office was withholding funds intended for “Yolanda” survivors.
Disaster survivors from Capiz and Aklan accused DSWD-6 of delaying the release of the Presidential Financial Assistance (PFA) worth P5,000 for each qualified household and that Geamala was not responding to their concerns.
“The PFA money is not with us. The manner of releasing is this: from the Office of the President it goes to the Department of Budget and Management then to Landbank (of the Philippines) Manila, and from there it goes direct to the cash cards of the recipients,” clarified Geamala.
In some areas, however, DSWD had to do direct payouts because they failed to beat the deadline set by Landbank, she explained.
“Yolanda”, one of the strongest typhoons on record, struck the Philippines on Nov. 8, 2013. It killed over 6,000 people in central Philippines and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.
“The allegation that we are trying to gain interest out of the fund is completely wrong,” said Geamala.
The director dismissed the survivors’ complaint that her office was slow in the submission of the list of beneficiaries.
“The last day of submission of the validated list for 126,261 households in Region 6 is July 15, 2017. We have so far validated 96,609 households,” she said.
Geamala expressed confidence they can complete the validation of the remaining 29,652 households.
“So far, we have released 50 cash cards for Barbaza town, 41 for Bugasong, 21 for Tibiao, and 18 for Valderrama, all in Antique province; 120 cash cards for Banate town, 25 for Maasin and 17 for New Lucena, all in Iloilo,” said Geamala.
This translated to 33 percent of municipalities already released with cash cards in Antique and 20 percent in Iloilo.
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, “Yolanda” caused P89.6 billion in damage to houses, bridges, roads and other infrastructures in the areas it traversed.
A group of protesting “Yolanda” survivors from Capiz and Aklan camped outside DSWD-6’s office in Molo district from June 28 to 29.
“We recognize the rights of the protesters to a peaceful assembly,” said Geamala.
She denied being unresponsive to the survivors’ concerns and recalled meeting them at least twice prior the protest.
“We empathize with all the survivors. Rebuilding and rehabilitation would take years for the many families affected but DSWD will always be alongside them. We will always be steadfast in our commitment to serve the poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable sectors,” said Geamala./PN
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