By Ariel P. Avendano
March 7, 2009, 12:00am [ Manila Bulletin Online ]
DINALUNGAN, Aurora -- Social Welfare and Development Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral awarded yesterday P14.82 million in funding assistance to 208 families in the three towns of Dinalungan, Casiguran, and Dilasag (Dicadi) whose houses were totally destroyed by typhoons “Queenie” and “Paeng” that struck the province in 2006.
Of the amount, P7 M will be utilized for the construction of 100 housing units in Dilasag; 47 housing units costing P3.2 million in Casiguran; and 61 housing units costing P4.2-M in Dinalungan. The houses will be built under the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s core shelter assistance program (CSAP).
The amount of P266,000 under the cash-for-work scheme has also been given to 173 families in Dicadi.
CSAP has been crafted to institute a disaster response and mitigating strategy primarily designed to reduce the number of families who were rendered homeless every year by calamities.
Under the program, a group composed of five families each will be organized into a “bayanihan” unit which will undertake the construction of core shelter units.
The units were designed to withstand the force of 180-kilometer-per-hour wind or earthquake of moderate intensity. Aurora is in a typhoon-belt zone.
Cabral also awarded certificates of ownership for completed housing units to 120 families in Casiguran and Dilasag under the Calamity Assistance and Rehabilitation Efforts (CARE) and Quick Response Fund (QRF).
Two-hundred-sixty-three housing units have been completed in the entire province since 2007.
Four livelihood projects costing P375,000 have been provided to generate economic opportunities for the poor communities under the Self-Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K).
Director Minda Brigoli, DSWD chief for Central Luzon, said it took more than two years to launch the project for the beneficiaries because the agency has to attend first to calamity victims severely affected by typhoons.
Quezon Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo lauded Cabral for fast-tracking the grant of housing units and livelihood assistance to typhoons victims in the three northern Aurora towns.
Angara-Castillo also said that Cabral, who is endorsing the reproductive health program of the province, has been adopted as daughter of Aurora.