A P5 MILLION-WORTH cash for work program will be first implemented by  DSWD6 for victims of typhoon Yolanda in Western Visayas.

“While we are awaiting for the approval of the P2.6 billion proposal for relief operations  and rehabilitation, we are already preparing to implement the cash for work program which now has funding,” said regional director Ma. Evelyn B. Macapobre.

To be given priority are hardest hit Local Government Units which have higher poverty incidence as per guidance from the agency’s central office. Hardest hit areas as identified by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Of the amount, beneficiaries in Capiz will get P1.45 million; Iloilo, P1.2 million; Antique,  P1.04 million; Aklan and Negros Occidental, P728,000 each.

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.

According to Macapobre, the remaining municipalities which will not be covered in this first rehabilitation intervention were included in the proposal submitted to the national office which is awaiting approval as of this writing.

The proposal was submitted by Macapobre on Friday after consultation with the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (RDRRMC).

Included in proposal were another round of relief operation amounting to P152.7 million; Shelter, P2.5 billion; and cash for work, P17 million./dswd6/May Rago-Castillo