If there is one lesson that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has learned from  Typhoon Yolanda, this is the provision of prompt aid to victims of disasters.

Assistant Secretary Hope B. Hervilla said that this lesson is now what the new DSWD management is implementing, especially for families affected by Typhoons Karen and Lawin.

Asec. Hervilla shared that recent breakthrough in handling and managing  disaster operations for ‘Lawin’, also considered as a super typhoon, is part of the improvements done by DSWD.

Three years after Typhoon Yolanda, Asec. Hervilla disclosed that the DSWD continues to receive complaints from victims regarding the provision of emergency shelter assistance (ESA).

ESA is the provision of P10,000 and P30,000 cash assistance to families whose houses were partially and totally damaged, respectively, by ‘Yolanda’. The cash aid can be used to purchase construction materials to repair a house or to build a new one.

She added, “Marami pa talagang hindi nakatanggap at nagpapaabot  pa ng kanilang pangalan matapos ang tatlong taon,  pero ‘yong budget halos ubos na.  Basically, yung ESA ay talagang wala na ‘yon.  Halos P30 million na lang ang naiwan,  so hindi na kasya yong pera sa lahat. Siyempre accountable dito yung past administration.  Ang alternative ay bigyan sila ng Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) na puwede silang doon mag avail  (Many victims have not received assistance and they continue to give their names even after three years, but the budget is almost gone already.  Basically, the ESA will no longer be given as the money left is just around P30M and not enough for all. The past administration is accountable to this.  The alternative is to provide them the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) where they can avail of livelihood opportunities).”

For her part, Assistant Scretary Aleli Bawagan, who headed a team that assessed and validated the distribution of ESA and the implementation of other rehabilitation efforts in Regions VI and VIII also disclosed that more than a million victims were assisted but there are still hundreds of thousands who have yet to receive the ESA.

In Region VI alone, more than 83,228 families did not receive the assistance while 40,000 families in Region VIII are still waiting for the program.

For updates on the construction of permanent shelters,  Asec. Bawagan said that construction is still ongoing to this day.  Of the 3,112 units committed by DSWD to finish, around 1,017 shelters have been finished and are now occupied.

Per assessment conducted, there were many problems encountered which caused delays, such as the identification of the land to be used as relocation sites by the local government units, and absence of suppliers willing to bid for the project due to the distance of the relocation sites, among others.

Asec. Hervilla further explained, “Meron na tayong adjustments dito sa Typhoon Lawin ngayon.  Nagbigay agad ang DSWD ng P5,000 para doon sa mga victims para sa initial na pagpapagawa nila ng bahay. Pagkatapos ma-validate kung sino ba iyong mga pamilya na may partially at totally damaged ay ibibigay ‘yong full amount ng services na kailangan nila (We already made adjustments to disaster operations for ‘Lawin’.  DSWD immediately gave an initial assistance of  P5,000 to the disaster victims to help them repair their homes.  After which, DSWD will conduct validation on families with partially or totally damaged houses so that the full amount can be provided to them).”

Asec. Hervilla continued, “Talagang malaking lesson ng gobyerno itong sa ‘Yolanda’ (What happened to ‘Yolanda’ is indeed a big lesson to our government).”

She also said that the practice of prepositioning goods down to the barangays should be continued. Likewise, she cited that the mechanized repacking of relief supplies, provided by the World Food Programme last year,  has helped a lot in the speedy delivery of goods to affected local government units.

She also encouraged the communities to organize themselves and make their voices be heard by the government, from the local to the national level.

Asec Hervilla assured disaster victims that the Department is continuously improving its services to ensure that all will have equal opportunities to various assistance which is part of this government’s  genuine care and compassionate service. ###