THE government helped more than 300 locally stranded individuals return to their provinces yesterday while nearly the same number are temporarily housed in state-run schools while waiting for similar transportation arrangements, according to Malacanang.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said 764 LSIs had been temporarily staying at the Villamor Airbase Elementary School (649) and the Philippine State College of Aeronautics (115) since the weekend.
Of this figure, 379 had been provided transportation assistance, including 150 LSIs that were transported Davao and Gen. Santos aboard the OPV Gabriela Silang and the 150 who were flown to Davao via Cebu Pacific.
Roque said 385 LSIs are still waiting for similar aid, which includes the 237 staying at the VABES and 108 at the PSCA.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has provided P2.192 million worth of relief aid, including 633 sanitary kits, 633 sleeping kits, and P2,000 financial assistance to individuals. The DSWD also provided Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) to some LSIs.
The agency said some of the LSIs were individuals who had been stranded in various localities in the region due to the community quarantine, like overseas Filipino workers who have completed their mandatory 14-day quarantine and are waiting for their flights, along with vacationers and passengers whose flights were cancelled due to the community quarantine.
Roque said apart from helping the LSIs, the government has also helped 50,105 OFWs — who were repatriated back to the country due to the pandemic — to return to their home provinces from May 15 to June 15.
He said the government, through the Department of Labor and Employment, also provided cash aid under the Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong for OFWs program to 155,230 individuals amounting to P1.609 billion. — With Noel Talacay