The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) handed over financial aid under its Emergency Cash Transfer (ECT) program to 2,625 families affected by Typhoon Uwan in the Cagayan Valley Region during a series of payouts held from Jan. 1 to 9.
Based on data from DSWD 2 (Cagayan Valley), 158 families whose houses were destroyed received cash aid worth PHP10,125 each, while 2,467 families with damaged homes each received PHP5,250.
This brings the total ECT assistance to PHP121.97 million, benefiting 22,198 hardest-hit families during Uwan’s onslaught last year, Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao of the DSWD Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) said in a statement on Tuesday.
Dumlao said DSWD personnel conducted simultaneous payouts across various municipalities in Santiago City in Isabela, as well as several towns in the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino.
These are Ambaguio, Aritao, Diadi, Dupax del Norte, Dupax del Sur, Kasibu, Kayapa, and Sta. Fe in Nueva Vizcaya, as well as Aglipay, Cabarroguis, Diffun, Maddela, Nagtipunan, and Saguday in Quirino.
The ECT is intended for recovery and rehabilitation, in line with the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian to accelerate the recovery of calamity-stricken families.
“The DSWD continues to work closely with the local government units to monitor ongoing recovery efforts and ensure that social protection services remain accessible to all Uwan-affected residents in the region,” Dumlao said. (PNA)