Marawi evacuees get cash for work from DSWD

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has given P2,000 cash assistance each to 164 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Marawi who participated in the agency’s 10-day work program that was offered exclusively for the evacuees.

As part of the DSWD’s assistance program, the IDPs were given the opportunity to work at the Visayas Disaster Response Center (VDRC) in Mandaue City for a 10-day work program which ran from August 23 until September 8.

DSWD tagged a budget of P380,000 for the program to cover at most 190 participating IDPs.

The 164 IDPs who worked at VDRC received a total of P2,000 for 10 days of work, at 8 work hours per day, from Mondays to Fridays.

Leah Japson, Cebu City’s DSWD head, encouraged the IDPs to finish the 10-day work program since it was intended for them.

She added that those who have been unable to complete the 10 working days can still avail the cash assistance if they continue, as long as the budget is still available.

The work program was done in partnership with the Cebu City Government who provides for the IDPs basic needs such as water, food, clothes and personal hygiene kits as counterpart assistance.

The city also provided a Kaohsiug Bus for the IDPs working at the VDRC, ferrying them from the pick-up points at the office of the National Commission of Muslim Filipinos in Barangay Mambaling and Cebu City Hall to the VDRC in Mandaue City, and vice versa.

Due to the continuous clash happening in Marawi, a total of 264 families and 1,148 individuals were recorded to have evacuated to Cebu City.

JAPSON