Officials from Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) visited the Province of Cebu on February 2 to lead and check on the status of financial assistance distribution to families affected by typhoon Odette.
First part of the activity was the dialogue at Maayo Hotel in Argao wherein DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista, DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya together with DSWD Assistant Secretary Glenda Relova answered the queries and concerns of the Local Chief Executives in Cebu regarding the distribution of cash aid.
One of the questions raised was the concern on whether or not the beneficiaries who already received cash assistance from LGU or other national government agencies are barred from receiving the cash aid under Joint Memorandum Circular No. 4, which provides P1,000 assistance per affected individual with a maximum amount of P5,000 per family.
Relova said these affected families are not barred from receiving multiple cash aids from various government offices. However, she said the LGUs are encouraged to prioritize the giving of cash assistance from the national government to those families who have not received any assistance yet.
Another concern was the insufficiency of funds received by LGUs in relation to the total number of families affected by the typhoon.
As a response, Malaya said the mayors have full discretion as to the prioritization of beneficiaries that shall correspond to the total number of beneficiaries allocated to them.
He reminded the mayors that DILG Secretary Eduardo Año already issued a memorandum regarding the possible issuance of show cause order to LGUs for the undue delay in the distribution of financial assistance to those affected by the typhoon.
As of February 2, there were two LGUs, the Municipalities of Liloan and Cordova, in the province that completed the distribution of cash assistance to affected families, while 5 LGUs such as Argao, Asturias, Balamban, Moalboal, and Samboan have started the distribution.
The mayors expressed their apprehensions to start the distribution of the cash aid considering that they have no enough funds to distribute to all families who were affected by the typhoon, adding that rushing the distribution will only cause complaints and discontent from their constituents.
With this, Malaya yielded to their request and gave them until February 11 to start the distribution of cash aid.
He urged the mayors to begin the distribution of financial assistance especially to those severely affected families.
After the dialogue, the officials from DILG and DSWD together with DILG Cebu Provincial Director Jhoaden Lucero, Office of Civil Defense-7 Director Marlou Salazar, DSWD-7 Director Rebecca Geamala, DILG Cebu cluster heads and other personnel witnessed the distribution of cash assistance to families affected by typhoon in the municipalities of Argao and Balamban.