BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Typhoon “Lawin” victims in Cagayan Valley will get cash assistance to repair and rebuild their houses with the release of P381.3 million in shelter aid by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Franco Lopez, DSWD’s protective services unit chief, said out of 79,502 beneficiaries of the Emergency Shelter Cash Assistance Program, 76,275 were already accommodated.
“This represents our 95-percent accomplishment under the Escap, and we are still processing the remaining cash assistance,” he said.
More than 182,000 houses were in Cagayan Valley based on the report of affected local government units, but this figure was trimmed down to 79,502 after a massive validation process conducted by the DSWD, Lopez said.
Under the Escap, beneficiaries are entitled to receive P10,000 for partially damaged houses and P25,000 for totally damaged houses.
Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo ordered the immediate release of the shelter aid in October after local government units submitted a validated count of houses damaged by “Lawin.”
At the time, Taguiwalo said the final rate for the shelter aid would be determined during the recovery and rehabilitation planning set in the first week of November 2016.