DSWD gives Visayas LGUs until Sept. 10 to extend housing aid to Yolanda survivors

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Local governments that have received shelter assistance for survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” have until Sept. 10 to fully extend the assistance to beneficiaries, according to Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman.

Soliman said funds not released beyond this date would be taken back by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which would then distribute these resources directly to the survivors.

In a press conference here during the launching of a monitoring project on the distribution of the shelter assistance, Soliman said P18,645,950,000 in assistance has already been downloaded to local government units intended for 966,341 families in Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas and other areas ravaged by the typhoon on Nov. 8, 2013.

Soliman said they have been aiming to distribute the assistance to beneficiaries before the end of the month.

In Western Visayas, three towns and a city have not started or completed the release of the assistance. These are Sagay City in Negros Occidental and the towns of Caluya in Antique, Banga in Aklan and Dingle in Iloilo, according to DSWD Western Visayas director Ma. Evelyn Macapobre.

The shelter assistance amounts to a cash grant of P30,000 to each family whose house was destroyed and P10,000 to each family whose house was damaged. Nestor P. Burgos Jr.