PASSI CITY–Edgar Janeo beams as he signs the Cash Assistance Payroll for him to finally receive the fruit of his 10-day labor through the DSWD’s Cash-for-Work Program.
He may have lost his entire dwelling and all his family’s belongings to the recent calamity and yet, he admitted he is happy for it was the first cash assistance extended to them ever since.
Janeo, 47, a father to five growing children, said he had witnessed how the chocolate-coloured rushing waters swallowed their small hut along the riverbank of Barangay Sarapan, this city, in the central part of Iloilo in the afternoon of November 8, 2013.
“Pero gapasalamat gihapon ko kay bisan waay kami may nasalbar sa amon mga bayo, luwas ang akon pamilya (But I am still thankful because even if we have not salvaged any of our belongings, my family is safe),” he shared. “Duro man kami nabaton nga relief goods halin sa DSWD kag sa iban pay amo pa dya ang una nga kwarta nga gintao kanamon (We have received several relief goods from DSWD and other groups but this is the first cash assistance given to us).
Janeo’s earnings from working as labourer in the farm of others could hardly sustain the daily needs of his family. More than two months after “super Typhoon Yolanda” ravaged the northern portion of Iloilo province, he has erected a small shanty made from materials he had gathered around their place. The P2,080.00 he had earned through the DSWD Cash-for-Work program is already a very big help especially in buying their home needs and their food.
“Nagapasalamat gid ko sa bulig kay may idarawat kami ka bugas kag ibakal sang kinahanglanon sa balay kag sang mga bata (I am very thankful for the assistance because we can now buy rice, things we need at home and the needs of the children), he said.
An initial 50 families, whose houses were damaged by Typhoon Yolanda, received P2,080.00 each on January 15, 2014 through the DSWD’s Cash-for-Work Program. Passi City is the first local government unit to avail of the cash assistance out of the 50 hardest hit municipalities in the region. They worked for 10 days repairing the damaged school building, city’s gymnasium and day care centers in their community.
The DSWD regional office has a budget of P5.2 million for the implementation of the program in Western Visayas for the victims of typhoon Yolanda.
Passi City Social Welfare and Development Officer Adelfa S. Canones said they did their best to hasten processing of documents of the typhoon-affected families because they understood people needed the assistance.
Cash-for-work is a short-term intervention to provide temporary employment to distressed/displaced individuals by participating in or undertaking preparedness, mitigation, relief, rehabilitation or risk reduction projects and activities in their communities or in evacuation centers. Work areas/programs are identified by the community under the leadership of local leaders. In exchange of the work rendered, program recipients are provided with cash to meet their need for food and other basic necessities./dswd6/Wenna Berondo-Bendol