The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), through its Field Office MIMAROPA, in coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), has started to provide Cash-for-Work (CFW) program to the affected residents of the oil spill on Friday, March 10, 2023.

A total of 70 fisher folks were deployed in Barangay Batuhan, Pola, Oriental Mindoro to collect available materials in the community that will be used in making the improvised spill booms and oil absorbent, as part of the CFW program.

Each beneficiary will receive the daily regional minimum wage every five (5) days, for a total of 15 working days.

Also on the same day, the DSWD provided financial assistance to the affected residents through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS).

Some 1,116 affected families, 740 of which came from Barangay Algeciras and 376 in Barangay Concepcion, both in the Aguyata town in Palawan, received Php 5,000 cash assistance with a total amount of Php 5,580,000.

Meanwhile, distribution of family food packs (FFPs) and other non-food items (NFIs) to other affected communities is still ongoing.

As of press time, the Department has extended ₱10,985,250.00 worth of food and non-food items to the affected families.

As of March 11, the DSWD reported that a total of 30,042 families or 137,230 persons from 121 barangays in Regions MIMAROPA and VI have been affected by the oil spill.

The DSWD has more than Php 2 billion standby funds and stockpile; 95,549 FFPs available in Disaster Response Centers; of which, 29,602 FFPs are at the National Resource Operations Center (NROC), Pasay City and 65,947 FFPs are at the Visayas Disaster Resource Center (VDRC), Mandaue City; and 104,080 FFPs available at DSWD FOs MIMAROPA and VI. ###