The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released P1.2 billion to provide jobs for displaced workers and rehabilitate damaged houses caused Typhoon Ruby last year.
Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said the fund will be released to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to provide benefits such as cash for work for some 146,961 typhoon-affected families in the Visayas. The program is a short-term government intervention that provides temporary employment for distressed or displaced individuals.
The fund will also provide emergency shelter assistance for 12,034 families whose houses were totally damaged. The program offers materials or financial assistance to augment the resources of affected families in rebuilding their houses damaged by natural or man-made disasters. Abad said the latest fund release is part of the P14-billion allocation of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund for 2015.
Likewise, the fund will benefit 68,988 families in Ruby-stricken areas whose houses were partially damaged, and will also receive aid through the ESA program. “When we facilitate the quick release of funds, agencies can also move faster in restoring normalcy in disaster-affected areas,” Abad said.
Estrella Torres