THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to coordinate with the local government units (LGUs) affected by the oil spill in Oriental Mindoro to determine if it could extend more assistance to the victims.
Relief operations in the province have ended as the affected communities resumed their daily activities, including their means of livelihood.
DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian, in a briefing after the Cabinet sectoral meeting in Malacanang yesterday, said the recovery phase has started and the provincial government is monitoring the situation closely to determine if they would still need any form of assistance from the national government.
Gatchalian said fishing, the main source of livelihood in the oil spill-affected area, has resumed.
“We are talking to the governor about other interventions that they need. For now, he said, we will communicate again in the coming days because they still need to observe which towns still need assistance,” he said.
Pola, Oriental Mindoro, Mayor Jennifer Cruz had said they have exhausted their calamity fund and are now depending on their quick response funds for their recovery funds.
Cruz said the assistance from the DSWD stopped after the fishing ban was lifted last July.
Gatchalian said the DSWD is prepared to continue providing food and cash aid, adding local executives can coordinate with their provincial governor or go directly to him.
“The policy of the DSWD, based on the instruction of our President, is to work with the local government units. In the case of Mindoro, we have reported this numerous times now, the delivery of food packs continued when the oil spill was running,” Gatchalian said.
He said the department has also provided two to three waves of emergency cash transfers as well as cash-for-work programs to the affected towns in Oriental Mindoro like Pola.
DSWD records show that 40,583 people benefited from cash-for-work (CFW) from the province and received a total of P228.19 million.
The Department’s Mimaropa Field Office has also released a total of 294,295 family food packs (FFPs) to residents in areas severely affected by the oil spill.
DSWD has also provided over P113.777 million worth of food packs and non-food relief items.
