Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian has sought the assistance of Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Jose Acuzar in the provision of housing units that will be used as temporary shelter for families and individuals in street situations (FISS).

“The shelter assistance is intended for individuals under the Oplan Pag-Abot program, specifically those who do not have a place to stay in their respective provinces after having been shunned by their families,” the DSWD chief said.

Secretary Gatchalian on Thursday (August 3) met with Secretary Acuzar at the DHSUD Central Office to discuss the type of housing unit that will be provided by the DHSUD, which will be used as temporary shelter while DSWD social workers are processing the return of the reached out individuals to their respective provinces as part of DSWD’s Oplan Pag-Abot Program.

The two heads of agencies are set to ink a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalize the partnership between the DSWD and DHSUD.

As of August this year, some 38 families composed of 113 minors and 111 adults or a total of  224 individuals have been reached out by the DSWD under its Oplan Pag-Abot program.

The recently-launched Oplan Pag-Abot aims to reach out to people living and staying on the streets and provide them with the necessary and appropriate interventions to address their immediate and long-term needs.

During the meeting at the DHSUD office, the DSWD chief was accompanied by Undersecretary for Innovations Eduardo Punay; Social Welfare Officers Marilyn Moral of the Social Technology Bureau (STB), and Miramel Laxa of the Program Management Bureau (PMB).#